Pokemon Mystery Dungeon : Broken Reality
by Fusion Phoenix
Summary: A mysterious being has begun devouring worlds. A survivor of one of those worlds has been chosen to save the few worlds that remain. Being transformed into a Lucario, will this newly made Pokemon be able to save everyone? Rated T for Mild Language
1. Prologue

Prologue~

 _The Start of a Whole New Life_

I woke up floating in a dark, cold, and empty space. It was so... calm. After a moment of trying make sense of my lack of surrounding, a voice started to speak. It sounded like it was all around, but, wasn't very loud either.

 _'Hello, Traveler.'_ It said, ' _You are about to begin your journey in a magical world, one that you could only dream of.'_ I didn't respond, I didn't know what to say. After a moment of silence, it spoke again.

' _This world, will fall to darkness. It is too soon for its inhabitants to know how or why, but they are all in grave danger and need your help.'_ The voice said.

"Why my help? There isn't anyone else to be chosen?" I responded.

' _The being that will destroy this world, has already devoured yours. You are the only one to survive long enough for I to retrieve you.'_

It took me a moment to realize what I was just told.

"W-WHAAAAAT?!? What do mean it was-"

' _Speak no further. It is best to not dwell on the subject any longer. Just know that you have survived, and will in the future, because of those you surround yourself with."_ It interrupted me. I remained silent, trying my best to not think about it.

"What am I supposed to do now then? How do I stop something that eats worlds?" I asked, holding back tears.

' _I will transport you into this world as one of its inhabitants, but I cannot just select one out of the blue. I will ask you some questions, all you have to do is answer truthfully.'_ I accepted the voice's offer.

 _'First Question:_

 _Have you ever felt responsible for on of your friends mistakes?'_

I almost immediately answered "yes".

' _Second Question:_

 _Have you ever stolen or destroyed something that doesn't belong to you?'_

"No, never." I responded.

 _'Third Question:_

 _If you noticed someone being bullied, would you go out of your way to help them?'_

Of course."

' _Fourth Question:_

 _If you had to choose between saving your friends or your family, who would you choose?'_

I thought about it for a minute, but I couldn't decide.

"Is there no way to save them both? There has to be." I said, but the voice didn't reject my answer.

' _Final Question:_

 _Would you rather sacrifice one person for hundreds, or hundreds of people for one person?'_

I was going to ask about all the serious questions, but decided it's probably to warn me in some way of what awaits me.

"It's obvious, if I had to, I would sacrifice one person for the hundreds."

' _Really? No matter how important they were to you?'_ The voice asked. I was surprised it responded to that.

"Yes, no matter how important they were to me." I said. A small flash of light appeared before me.

' _Reach into the light, and grab hold of the item within.'_ The voice said. I did as it told me, putting my hand in, but I was unable to pull it back.

' _Breathe, it will easily come out if you relax, and breathe.'_ The voice told me. I calmed myself down, and the light shined brighter and brighter. As I was being engulfed in the light, I was able to pull out a silver arm band, with black flames etched into the rims of it. It had a hole near where the hand would be. I held up the band, as the light began to compress itself around me, I felt only the slightest of pressure. My body was changed by the light, into that of a blue and black fured dog with a yellow belly.

' _You are a righteous person, seeking only the correct path. You always put others before yourself, and to try save as many people as you can. You fight for the greater good.'_

 _'A noble and righteous person like you is deserving of a Pokémon of the same personality, a Lucario. With its incredible strength, willpower, and resolve, this body will aide you well in your journey.'_ A portal opened beneath me.

 _'That arm band with also aide you, traveler. Be sure to keep it on you always.'_ The voice stated, I began to float towards the portal. As I got closer to the center, I noticed it felt like I was being pulled down, and in the blink of an eye, I was sucked down the portal, to emerge in whatever world is waiting for me.


	2. Rio’s Awaited Arrival in Sunset Valley!

_Fusion: *inhale and soft exhale*_ This has definitely been a long time coming, after countless rewrites and scrapped ideas, and also real life interruptions, the final cut of the _FIRST CHAPTER_ will finally be posted. I've gone through so many different ideas, I could write a story on all of them. Anyway, I won't delay you anymore.

 _

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or any other piece of media that will be referenced in this story outside of certain Original Characters and Locations described in the story. Be sure to leave a review if you'd like and if you want to help me improve this story of mine, I'd greatly appreciate any and all criticism

——————_

As the Lucario fell through the portal, he felt as if he was being carried downwards. The sky was a light pink, orange, and purple-ish blue, perhaps it was sunrise? The air smelled crisp and clean, and each breath he took in felt more relaxing than the last. After a few moments, the sun rose enough for its warmth to bounce on our protagonist's fur, a cozy smile appeared on his face. As the Lucario took in the warmth of the sun and the crispness of the air, he took a look at his surroundings. To the north, a tall, jagged mountain that pierced the sky. To the south, a forest of bright orange and yellow leaves, showing the season to be Autumn. To the east, more of the same forest, but far off in the distance seemed to be an ocean or sea, he wasn't close enough to tell clearly. Directly below the Lucario was, surprising enough, more trees of different reds, oranges, and yellows. As softly as he has fallen, the Lucario finally landed on solid ground, he stood for a moment, taking in the scents of the forest air, before being approached by a black fox with a very large mane.

"It's not everyday you get to see a Pokémon fall from the sky," The fox said with a small grin, "name's Koraza, but feel free to call me Kora, honestly it's too long to begin with." The fox extended his paw to greet the Lucario. When he finally shook Kora's paw, he was met with a firm shake and a warm smile.

"Don't believe I caught your name friend, figured it's only fair you share yours after I already told you mine." The Lucario had almost forgotten to introduce himself. It took him a moment to remember, but it came to him nonetheless.

"M-my name is Rio, nice to meet you, Kora." Rio seemed a little shocked at how, different, his voice sounded. Before, if he can remember right, Rio sounded much like your average teenager would at 16, but now he sounds like how an old man pretending to sound younger would.

"Did your own voice catch you off guard? Don't worry, it'll sound like your old voice in no time." Kora said, reassuringly.

"Wait, what do you mean? Has someone like me come here before?" Rio asked, a puzzled look on his face. Kora chuckled lightly and turned around, motioning for Rio to follow him.

"I'll explain on the way to town. C'mon, it's only 15 minutes from here." As Kora walked into the woods, Rio stumbled while trying to follow and propped himself on a tree before he fell. Kora quickly went to help.

"Sorry Rio, I guess walking in a new body isn't gonna be easy on the first try." Kora and Rio laughed for a moment before Kora offered to support Rio, carrying his arm around his shoulder. After a minute or two of walking, Rio asked again, "So, how did you know I'm not from, uh, anywhere around here?"

"Oh yea, basically, there's been many other beings that were transformed into Pokémon and fell into our world. I think you might be, lemme think, maybe the 100th or so Outlander, or transformed Pokémon, to be sent here." Kora said this so casually that Rio thought he was _way_ too used to this whole thing, way more than Rio was for the most part.

"Okay, but how is it that you don't seem to be at all shocked or surprised that you saw a Pokémon fall from the sky or to find out that they were not originally a Pokémon?" Rio asked, trying to get his footing on his own now.

"Well, my mother is one of those Outlanders herself. Crazy right?" Kora stated, catching Rio when he stumbled again. Kora, as he caught Rio, noticed the arm bracelet Rio had on.

"This is the first time one of you came down with some fancy jewelry since, well, my mom did." Kora stated, gesturing towards the bracelet.

"From the sounds of it, your Mom might be my best shot at finding out what I'm supposed to do then, huh." Rio said. As the two continued to talk, they finally came to the town Kora was talking about. The town was small, with only 12 houses with Pokémon of all sizes walking about. There's enough room between the houses for everyone to live comfortably, and a few even have gardens in between or behind them. The Mountain to the North, now much closer, seemed to give a faint orange glow, probably from the sunlight bouncing off the side. Kora stretched out his arms and happily greeted his new friend to his hometown.

"Welcome to Sunset Valley, Rio! This is just a small part of the town, really. In fact, after I get you all buddy buddy with everyone, there's actually so much I have to show you!" As Kora showed his humble town to Rio, a couple of Pokémon ran up to meet the two. One was a small black and red fox with a small tail, and the other was a small brown dog, or maybe a fox? It isn't easy to tell.

"Whoa, Kora did _actually_ find an Outlander??" The small black fox said, with wonder and awe practically glued on his face. Kora grinned, putting his arm on Rio's shoulder.

"Yea I _actually_ did lil dude and dudette, his name's Rio." Kora lifted the two smaller Pokémon, both of which looked like they just found the most amazing thing you could ever find.

"My name's Kai," the small black fox said, "and this is my best friend, May." Kai gestured to the small dog fox thing, who waved excitedly at their new acquaintance. Rio nervously waved back, chuckling to himself.

"Oh you probably don't know this but I'm a Zorua and my brother Kora is a Zoroark and May is an Eevee and my Mom is also a Zoroark and my Dad is a really really _super strong_ Zoroark and my Mom is an Outlander like you and she's also way super strong and super-duper smart and she makes the best food too, you should come over to our home sometime and have some food you'll love it! Oh and don't forget to check out the mountain and the shops and the beach an-" Kora stopped his younger brother from drowning Rio with anything and everything that came to mind.

"Sorry, he really likes to talk, like, a _whoooole_ lot." Kora apologized, letting Kai and May go and watched as they ran into town. After a short moment, Kora's stomach growled.

"Dang, the blabbermouth got me hungry just by mentioning Mom's cooking. Hey, now you can actually meet her and learn a few more things about yourself. You might even find out what that arm band thingy does." Kora started walking towards one of the houses that were furthest away from them, Rio walking close behind.

Up close, the houses look much older, being made mostly of clay and rocks. The roofs had interesting designs that looked like the Pokémon who lived inside of it, in one way or another. The house Kora was leading Rio to, for instance, had black and red designs on a large bushy object similar to a Zoroark's mane. The actual house itself looks very stable and durable.The entrance to the house is a large opening hole covered by a tough cover cloth. Inside is a large room with a decent sized campfire in the middle. In the middle of the campfire is a wide, thin, flat rock holding a medium sized metal pot. Around the campfire are three large rugs with two big cushions each. The interior of the house is cozier and warmer than expected, perhaps the campfire was lit earlier. Kora plopped down on the second largest rug and patted the cushion next to his for Rio to sit on, and Rio obliged.

"Weren't we supposed to meet your mom? Where is she?" Rio politely asked, carefully scanning the room. Kora grinned.

"Well why don't you ask her yourself?" Kora said, pointing at the wall opposite to them.

"That doesn't make any-" Somehow, in the few seconds it took for him to turn his head, another Zoroark appeared out of thin air right where Kora had pointed. Rio jumped back in surprise, stumbling over one of the cushions.

"Good afternoon Kora honey," the Zoroark said, her voice as sweet as honey and as smooth as silk, " and who, pray tell, is this Lucario you brought with you?"

"Mom, this is Rio. He's an outlander. He fell right from the sky just like how you say they do!" Kora stated, pushing Rio slightly closer to his mother.

"An Outlander? Really? Well it's a good thing my son found and brought you to me Rio. My name is Diana." She gave a warm smile after introducing herself. Rio shyly smiles back.

"Um, Kora said you were an Outlander too. I wanted to know if you could tell me what being one means, if you wouldn't mind." Rio asked politely. Diana, pleased with Rio's politeness, gladly took up his request.

"I'll tell you anything you want to know, sweetheart. In my day, it was rare to find such a polite and well-mannered Outlander. Normally, they're all blinded by their massive egos and assume they could get whatever they want." Diana patted Rio softly on the head, making him blush a tiny bit.

"First things first, I believe I can help you with the sound of your voice. Not to be harsh but it seems too rough and coarse to be the voice of such a polite boy like yourself." Rio blushed more from all the compliments she was giving him right off the bat. Diana went outside, and after a moment or two, came back with a basket full of Nanab, Pinap, and Oran berries. She brought them to the pot and tossed them in. After using a thick stick to crush and mix the berries with the water that was inside the pot, Diana got a small bowl and poured some of the mixture into it, giving it to Rio.

"This should help with your voice problem, sweetheart. If you want more feel free to help yourself to as much of it as you'd like." Rio thanked Diana, tasting a sip of the drink she gave him. It tasted pretty amazing! Rio quickly drank the entire bowl dry, and just as quickly got another bowlful.

"You must be thirsty, Rio. Or is my Mom's homemade juice just so good you can't stop yourself?" Kora asked, but the only response from his Lucario friend was an enthusiastic nod. After two more bowls full of juice, Rio thanked Diana and sat down on one of the rugs.

"So, Miss Diana, what am I supposed to do? When I got sent here I didn't get any help from who or whatever sent me." Rio asked, Kora sat down next to him and Diana across from him.

"Well, it depends. Do you remember why you got sent here?"

"Apparently, I'm supposed to save the world from something, but I don't know what or when it's gonna show up. Actually, I'm not even sure _how_ I'm supposed to stop it." Rio had a slightly worried look on his face, Diana instinctively tried to reassure him.

"Don't try and think too much of it now. If the world were in danger anytime soon, I would have noticed a while ago. I've done my fair share of saving the world, and I've kept in shape to keep this world I love safe." Diana stated, calming Rio down some.

"If I were to give you a direction as of what you should do now, I would suggest getting used to using your new body as soon as you can. You're going to have to train that body, too. Lucarios are naturally very strong and durable, but as your body is now, most of your potential is locked deep inside you." As Diana spoke, Rio listened to everything she said, making mental notes on all the important parts. Kora was already lost in thought and wasn't really paying that much attention.

"If I were to send you here, I wouldn't have sent you in an already evolved body. Getting used to a weaker, more flexible body is vastly more beneficial than throwing you into a strong, adult body."

"Ok, so I've gotta learn to fully control my body. Would, uh, would you also be able to help me with that, by any chance?" Rio asked, not entirely expecting a yes. But the answer he got wasn't entirely a no either.

"As much fun as training a fledgling Outlander would be, I'm afraid I'm not too knowledgeable about Lucario training regimens. The most I can do is teach you the basics, or better yet, Kora can teach you instead." Kora snapped back to reality at the mention of his name, not at all hearing what was just asked of him.

"Diana said you could help me get used to my body by training me. You can do that, right?" Rio asked, Kora, at first, was surprised to be asked to train someone, but he gladly accepted the request. Mostly because he liked the idea of being looked up to by his new friend.

"Of _course_ I can train ya buddy! That's what friends are for, right?" Kora smiled proudly, and Rio nodded and smiled back.

'Hopefully,' Diana thought, 'Whatever danger Rio was sent to destroy, won't come until after he's ready. I hate lying, but I didn't want Rio to stress over his duties.'

"Hey Mom, as my first training session with Rio, could I introduce him to everyone else in town?" Kora asked, springing to his feet. Diana smiled sweetly.

"Whatever you think is going to help him, honey. You _are_ his teacher now, after all." As Diana finished her sentence, Kora waved bye to her and dragged Rio out the house almost immediately. Diana giggled at her son's excitement.

"Might as well start gathering things for dinner then, I've got nothing better to do." She said to herself, putting on a satchel and walking outside.

"Silly me, I almost forgot Kora's allowance." She quickly ran back in, grabbed some money from under her rug, placed it in her satchel and went back outside.

After a whole minute of being dragged through the forest by Kora, Rio was met with a much larger section of Sunset Valley. It looked like a town square, with four large, colorful tents, a large clay and rock building, a park like area in the middle of the whole thing, and a path that lead into a different section of the forest.

"This is the more, business-y area of Sunset Valley, like a town square. If I were to say how big Sunset Valley is actually, I'd say it's the entire island." Kora stated, walking down towards the building with Rio.

"We're on an island? Seems like a pretty huge island to me."

"You can call it a big island or a small continent, neither of them are really wrong. Regardless, Sunset Valley is _massive_ my blue friend!"

The two reached the large clay and rock building, the roof didn't have too much of a design on it, or any at all for that matter. It was entirely basic. Instead of having the cloth like the houses before, it didn't have anything covering the hole. Even the inside is completely bare.

"Does, anyone live here?" Rio asked, puzzled by the lack of any sign of interior design.

"This is just a vacant building I guess. I don't remember ever seeing any Pokémon do anything with the place."

After that uneventful experience, the two went toward the tents. All four of them surrounding the large grassy area in the middle. The first tent was red with white feathers shooting upwards. There is a wide table infront of it with a penguin-looking Pokémon behind it. The Pokémon, a Delibird, as Kora whispered to Rio, waved at Kora as they approached.

"Good morning to you Kora, come to buy some more supplies for your family today?" The Delibird asked politely.

"Not right now, a new outlander showed up and I'm showing him around the Valley," Kora put his arm around Rio's shoulder, "This is Rio. Rio, this is Mr. Nick."

"It's a pleasure to meet you sir." Rio said.

"The pleasure is all mine. Whenever you need to buy or sell anything, feel free to bring yourself down to my little shop young lad." Nick said with a warm smile.

The next tent was white with two whiskers on the left, right and top of it with a giant coin in the middle. This tent didn't have a table out front so the two walked right inside. To Rio's surprise, the tent was much larger on the inside, holding two large vaults behind a wide counter and enough space atleast ten people infront of the counter. Also behind that counter was a white cat with a smaller version of the coin outside on their forehead.

"Mornin' Kora. Whos tha new guy?" The Meowth said, shining the counter. Her voice sounded kinda young for what Rio assumes is a shop owner of some kind, she couldn't be much older than he was"

"Well, Minnie, this is-" before Kora could finish his sentence, a dirty rag was thrown straight into his face by a very angry "Minnie".

"I told ya to stop callin me that, twerp! The name's Minerva not Minnie!" Minerva quickly calmed herself down, grabbing a clean rag from under the counter to finish shining it.

" _Ptoo!_ Gross, my mouth was wide open, geez! The _nerve_ of some Pokémon." Kora teased, however the joke didn't sit well with the young Meowth behind the counter.

"Always with that same _damn_ joke," Minerva pulled a large box from under the counter, it definitely seemed to have some weight to it, to Kora's dismay, "luckily I know how to shut that annoyin mouth of yours!"

"H-hey, Minerva, m-my friend! There's no need for, senseless violence, r-right Rio?" Kora turned to see Rio standing far away from him. His face reading, 'Yea, I'm not even gonna try to stop this, that joke was terrible.' Kora stumbled backwards as Minerva approached him, she was literally fuming.

"C'mon it was just a joke! A tiny, little, harmless joke! Y-you don't have to do anything that could really, um, hurt me, riiiiight?"

"You shoulda thought about that before saying that lame joke for the 100th time!" Minerva shouted, throwing the box full force at Kora. Frozen in fear, the box directly slammed into Kora's chest with a loud thud, knocking him outside the tent. Rio now somewhat regretted not helping Kora, but he couldn't think of anything he could've done to stop what Kora set in motion.

"Hey bud, Rio, right?" Minerva walked up to Rio, her arms crossed. Obviously, throwing that box calmed her down greatly, but Rio still jumped when she approached. Minerva sighed.

"Ya don't have to worry, I ain't gonna hurt ya. I already said this, but the name's Minerva."

"I-I'm Rio, I'm an Outlander. Does Kora always tell such bad jokes?"

"Yea, that's pretty much all he does besides helpin the shopkeeps. You'd think he'd find some better material every now and then."

"Well I better find some better living arrangements. I'm already tired after just one lame joke." Minerva giggled a little.

"How unlucky you are bud, anyway, you might wanna help him up soon. That box was full of the heaviest non-breakable things I could find, mostly just rocks." Rio quickly went to help Kora, who was currently unconscious under some of the rocks. The box broke on impact. Minerva reluctantly decided to help Rio with Kora. After getting the stray rocks off of him and putting the box to the side, Rio and Minerva spoke while Kora recovered, still laying on the ground.

"So, do you own this little tent shop, thingy?" Rio asked, poking Kora with a stick he found.

"Do I look old enough to run a shop? If ya say anythin other than no, you'll end up like the clown here. Besides, this isn't a shop anyway, it's my Pop's bank." Minerva replied, sitting next to Rio as they spoke.

"Oh, well, where is your dad? If you don't mind me asking."

"He goes overseas with the guild we got around here. He and the guild master are long time buddies, and he's good with cash management, so whenever the guild goes on some grande ol adventure off this big rock, he tags along to manage their funds and the like." Minerva was a little saddened after she said that, it wasn't something Rio picked up on though.

"He left yesterday, so I'm not expectin him to come back 'till next week." This time, Rio actually heard the somewhat growing sadness in her voice.

"Sounds like you don't like being here by yourself. Does he leave often?"

"Boy you're an asker or questions alright, but, yea. Bein left here with _this_ idiot isn't what I would call 'fun'. Sometimes I wish I could get off this big, dumb rock an see the rest of the world." After finishing her sentence, she tossed, or really threw, a pebble at Kora's chest, causing him to flinch.

"Get up twerp, I know you ain't unconscious anymore." Rio helped sit up Kora, who was rubbing the part of his chest Minerva threw the pebble at.

" _Oww,_ you were just starting to express an emotion other than rage, and I didn't wanna ruin the moment. Also, lying on the ground with the sun in my face really helps with box-caused injuries. Also, _o_ _www."_ Kora thanked Rio, and the three of them remained silent under the sun. The silence wasn't awkward to any of them, it kinda just felt right.

"The thought just occurred to me, maybe we shouldn't be sitting in the middle of this path staring at Minerva's bank-tent." Rio said, after a few minutes. Kora sighed, starting to get himself up. Minerva and Rio did the same.

"Yea you're right, I still gotta show you around the place. Man, I didn't realize how much time flies when you get knocked out by flying boxes full of rocks." Kora stated, stretching his body up until his chest pained him too much to continue. Minerva started back into the bank, brushing the dust off her body as she walked.

"You two bozos can do whatever you want, I got a bank to watch over." She didn't look back at the two as she walked inside.

"Alrighty then, let's go to the next tent Rio," Kora started walking towards the other tent, "see ya later Minerva!" The Meowth raises her hand to say goodbye. Before Rio started walking, he thought for a moment and said,

"If you want, you could always join us. Also it was nice meeting you!" Rio waved goodbye as he caught up with Kora. Minerva hesitated before she turned and said,

"If I don't die of boredom, I'll come find you two. I just gotta follow the trail of bad jokes right?" She said, however Rio was too far to hear her at the volume she said it. She sighed, getting back to work.

The next tent they arrived at was about as large as Minerva's, if not slightly larger. It was grey and had three weird "rings" at the top. Inside you could hear someone punching a punching bag. The inside was hot, and in the dead center was a tall, muscular, four-armed Pokémon punching _through_ the punching bag! He did it so effortlessly, it hardly made that loud a sound.

"Damn, that's the third one today." The pokemon said to himself, not aware of the two others within earshot. He didn't notice Kora and Rio until after he tossed the broken bag aside with the two other broken ones and went to the other side of the room for a newer one.

"Oh, afternoon Kora. Come to train a bit?" The very intimidating pokemon said, pounding his chest with one of his fists. Rio instinctively stood very still, not at all knowing what else to do.

"Actually I was just showing my new friend here around. Meet Rio the Outlander, arrived just this morning in the middle of the forest." As Kora showed off his new friend, Rio shyly waved hello.

"Well Rio, the name's Jax, short for Jackson. Since you probably don't know, I'm a Machamp." As he introduced himself, Jax flexed each arm, he seemed to sparkle but it was mostly due to how sweaty he is after training in this hot tent.

"Seeing how you're an outlander and all, how about we see how strong your Lucario body already is! Come on over here and punch this punching bag with all you've got." Jax plopped himself down near the bag, gesturing for Rio to approach it. His first attempt at hitting the punching bag was, pitiful. He barely made it move.

"You gotta put way more force into your punch man! Even in a different body, punching can't really be _that_ difficult." Jax said, although he mostly said that last part to himself.

"Yea Rio, punch it like you're punching something you really don't like. Like, uh... well, something you hate? Sorry, but you've never told me what you like or didn't like yet." Kora, attempted, to help motivate his blue friend, which helped get Rio thinking.

"I really hate bullies, does that count?" Jax and Kora both shrugged.

"It's a start, I guess?" Jax said, scratching his head. Rio went with that idea for lack of any others at the moment. Rio tried to remember back to when he was still human, and one of his friends were getting bullied by a group of kids. The memory for some reason was fuzzy, even though this should have happened maybe a week ago. Still, it was just enough to get Rio slightly peeved. He reeled back and punched the punching bag as hard as he could, knocking it completely over. Rio looked over at Jax and Kora, wagging his tail in excitement.

"Not bad kid. I told ya that punching is easy, anyone with hands or paws could do it." Jax got up, putting one of his fists out to Rio, who bumped it with his paw.

"Sweet, now how about you Kora? Wanna show him what an experienced punch is?"

"Normally, I would never turn down the chance to punch something, but I seemed to have _somehow_ gotten on Minnie's bad side today, and had a rather unpleasant meeting with a very large box of rocks. I don't think I could punch much harder than Rio now." Kora patted his chest, wincing a bit. Rio felt insulted, but kept it to himself.

"Lemme guess, you made that 'nerve' joke again, didn't you?" Jax said, rolling his eyes and picking up the punching bag.

"You say that like it's a bad joke! It's great!" Rio and Jax both looked at Kora with skeptical faces. Kora shrugged and sighed.

"I guess my comedy is just too good for my audience, sigh." Kora said sarcastically, turning to leave.

"Anyway, we got one more tent to look at Rio, then we got just a couple more places to look at before you're well acquainted with Sunset Valley."

"Great, thanks for letting me punch your punching bag Jax."

"Hm? Oh, don't mention it kid. Come on back whenever you'd like, novice puncher!" Jax said as the fox and dog left. They walked fairly slowly to the last tent, taking in the light breeze that came in. Rio decided to ask about Jax and Kora's relationship.

"Me and the bodybuilder? Before I evolved, I always thought he was awesome, I wanted to be just as strong as him when I grew up. When I finally did evolve, I got the chance to fight him head-to-head in his gym, and it was a close match. He only one because of his experience. After the match he told me that I was far from getting as strong as possible," Kora looked at his paws and grinned proudly, "could you imagine getting recognition from someone you looked up to? After what he said about how strong I could become, he also decided to help train me so I could reach my potential. If I hadn't taken that stupid box to the chest, I could've shown you some real power!"

"That's a shame, I guess my rocks are stronger than you are. Betta remember that the next time ya think you're funny, twerp." Kora jumped from Minerva's sudden appearance behind him.

"Oh, it's just you. You didn't happen to bring any, um, rocks did you?" Kora asked, hiding his nervousness as best as he could.

"Don't worry. All I got with me is some money for some food, the last tent you both were headin to is the bakery so I decided I'd join you two after all." Minerva pointed at the last tent in the square. It was much larger than the other tents, the design being mostly white with pink dots scattered here and there, and as the three got closer, the smell of sweets and pasteries got stronger. The three Pokémon picked up the pace, each curious of the source of those scents.

"Man I don't know what any of these smells are but I want all of them!" Rio exclaimed, walking faster than before.

"Oh you have no idea, the treats they sell there are to die for!" Kora replied, matching Rio's speed.

"Trust me, ya can't leave without tryin the pie. They make a new batch each day and they rarely make the same things twice!" Minerva stated, catching up to the other two. Right before they ran inside the tent, to Kora's surprise, they almost ran right into Diana, and right behind her were Kai and May.

"Hiya Mom, hey you two. Didn't expect to see you again so soon." Kora said, hugging all three of them.

"I went looking for you, honey. I forgot to give you some spending money before you bolted out the house with Rio. How are you by the way, sweetheart? Is Kora telling you any of his 'jokes'?" Kora sank a bit, while Minerva smiled smugly.

"Why'd you have to say it like that? My jokes aren't that bad.." Kora said quietly, being mostly unheard by the others.

"I'm doing fine, everyone here is so nice! We were just getting hungry and decided to get some treats from this place," Rio replied, his tail wagging, "I hadn't realized that I pretty much skipped breakfast, and these two are saying this place is amazing, oh I just can't wait!" Diana smiled, handing the disheartened Kora some money.

"They aren't wrong, Kai and May could tell you the same thing if they didn't stuff their faces full with today's pies. I even bought some extra to take home for after dinner tonight." Kora's face lit right back up, his mouth watering at the thought of whatever sweet treat it could be.

"Oh Mother dearest, you know the right words to mend my injured soul! Come Rio and Minerva, we have pastries to eat and money to by them with!" The three cheered as they ran inside, saying goodbye to Diana and the kids. Diana gave another sweet smile as she left, with Kai and May trotting close behind her. She looked into the sky, the sun directly above, and continued home with the children.

"I'm going to need both of your help to make dinner tonight, if it's alright with May's parents that is. When we get back, Kai, could you and May go ask if we can have her for dinner?" Kai jumped up with a smile and crumbs on his face.

"Sure thing Mom! Oh man, dinner's gonna be awesome!"

"The inside of the tent was just as decorative as a bakery should be, the floor had a large rug with red and pink stripes, there were tables with decorative coverings and flowers on top, and the counter was covered with pastry designs and showcased today's treats in glass display cases. Behind the counter was a Pokémon that reminded Rio of cotton candy, and another Pokémon that looked like a mime. In front of the counter was actually Mr.Nick from the first shop tent and behind him was a tall red bird Pokémon and a big blue alligator Pokémon.

"Good afternoon Zeke and Nate." The two pokemon turned and greeted Kora, Minerva and Rio with friendly smiles.

"Ah, nice to see you Kora and Minerva. Who's your friend here? Can't say I've seen too many Lucarios here in the Valley." Zeke the Blaziken asked. Nate, the Feraligtr, nodded in agreement.

"My name's Rio, I'm an Outlander and I only arrived this morning. Pleased to meet you both." Rio politely shook both their claws and smiled.

"I thought you two would've went with the guild to, wherever it was they went." Kora asked, this line of questioning, however, started to both annoy and intrigue Minerva.

"Yea, you two are crazy strong, why wouldn't ya be dragged along with the guild?" Minerva asked somewhat coldly.

"In all honesty, we didn't wanna go. The guild master said it'd be alright if we stayed, it was just business trip with another guild they were going to meet." Nate said, this answer didn't seem right to Minerva nor Kora.

"If it's just some guild meetup, why didn't they come to us? We've got more than enough room for several guilds. And besides, who wouldn't wanna spend the weekend here, except for anyone who already lives here that is." Minerva pointed out. The responses she got, however, were just shrugs and a "beats me." As their conversation came to a close, and Zeke and Nate ordered their treats, the dog, cat, and fox decided to let the matter of suspicion fade as they got to the counter. The cotton candy looking pokemon, a Slurpuff according to Kora, greeted the three with a smile almost as sweet as Diana's.

"Good afternoon young Kora and young Minerva, and hello to you too young stranger. What brings you to our humble Bakery today?" Kora pushed the urge to blurt out his order down as much as he could so he could introduce Rio.

"This is the Outlander Rio, Miss Clara. He only arrived this morning and I've been showing him around the Valley. Really, just the square so far." Rio gave a small wave and smile after Kora's introduction.

"An Outlander you say? Well if he has the appetite of one, I'd be glad to give him anything he could afford." Miss Clara said jokingly, getting a giggle from Minerva and Kora.

"Anyway, I know you didn't just come in for idle chat, so what'll you three be having today?" Clara said with a sweet smile again on her face. The three had decided to get three slices of the pie they made today, with Kora and Minerva splitting the payment between them.

"Alright, three slices of our Lum and Pecha berry pie, coming right up!" Clara and the Mr.Mime walked toward the back, where the source of all the sweet scents were coming from. The three could hardly wait to chow down on their prized pie slices, Rio's mind was going everywhere because of how hungry he was, Minerva couldn't stop thinking on how the two berries would taste in pie form, and Kora had to stop his mouth from watering every now and then. After a minute of waiting, all three of them were counting, Clara and Benny, the Mr.Mime, walked out with their cherished confections, wrapped in pink and white stripped foil and tied with a pink bow.

"Here you go kiddies, enjoy! We even tossed in some macaroons, free of charge!" Clara stated happily. The three Pokémon thanked the bakers and went outside to eat in the middle of the miniature park. As they savored their pastries, each of them felt a different level of bliss.

" _Mmmmm~_ you guys were right! I've never had a pie this good, and I've never got to try a macaroon before but now I wish I did, they're delicious!" Rio said, happiness radiating from his body.

"I told ya, there's nothin betta than their specialty pies!" Minerva said through a mouthful of pie. Kora was too busy enjoying his slice to comment, but the peaceful look on his face said it all. He has reached pie nirvana, all of the flavors of not just the berries, but the cinnamon and brown sugar, the flaky and sweet crust, and the crumbs of chocolate they hid right under the crust fused perfectly in his mouth, and everytime he swallowed his peace grew tenfold. In Minerva's words, "It was some damn good pie!"

The three finished their pies not too long after buying them. Despite only having one slice, each were greatly satisfied and were laying on the ground, staring at the clouds. The heat of the sun and the breeze from the wind seemed to be even more perfect after being stuffed with such sweet confections. They stayed in silence for some time actually, either not realizing the passage of time or not being entirely awake. The first to break their peaceful silence was Rio, surprisingly.

"So, what's next? Are we just gonna lay here all day?" He asked, having his paws on his chest. He, much like the other two, were very content with not moving from that spot. Neither Kora nor Minerva really wanted to answer either, but Kora eventually did.

"I do have to show you the beach and all that, but it's gonna be a long walk through the forest. I'd say maybe an hour if you can't run yet." Kora stated.

"Why don'tcha let the big strong fox carry ya all the way down there? As long as he doesn't run into any rocks, he's _invincible._ " Minerva joked, getting a laugh from the boys.

"Rocks are only a problem when they're boxed up and thrown at my chest, the cardboard makes them just that much more deadly." Kora retorted, getting a short giggle from Minerva. Kora dragged himself to his feet, stretching as much as he could. Rio and Minerva followed suit, both yawning as well.

"Alright, then it's settled, we head down to the beach and hopefully I won't be forced to carry Rio!" Kora exclaimed playfully, making Minerva laugh a little and Rio roll his eyes.

"I'll be fine, I won't let myself slow you guys down." Rio stated with a proud grin.

"Then how about a race? That path right over there leads directly to the beach, the first one there wins. Since this is your first race in your new body, I'll take it easy on you. I won't go on all fours." Kora challenged his blue buddy.

"What about you Minerva, you in?" Rio asked, stretching his legs a bit.

"Of course, as if I'd skip out on the chance to make this twerp look like a chump!" The three got themselves ready, as they each counted down.

"3..."

"2..."

"1..!"

"GO!!!"

Rio, Kora and Minerva ran straight for the path, each being sure not to let anyone get infront of them. The leaves on the ground were kicked up as the ran, dust trailed behind them with each step, and to Rio's surprise, his body felt more stable than he expected. He smiled as he and his two new friends ran towards the sunset, under the cover of the trees, with the guidance of the path leading them to their sandy finish line.

Fusion: it's done. It's _DONE!_ I've done it, the first chapter of my story after months of it being constantly redone in my head! **_FINALLY!!!_**

Be sure to leave a review telling me what you thought about this break from my second hiatus, maybe send some help my way if you don't mind. I'll try and start my schedule plan this week, meaning that the next thing I post will be a short one-shot, most likely Pokémon related, and that Chapter Two won't be posted until after Thanksgiving.

Thanks for reading, and see you all in the next chapter!


	3. Fateful Fight on the Sunset Shores

Fusion: Alrighty, time to get this next chapter nice and not full of spelling and grammar mistakes. That should be easy right? I'll save the Author-Reader chit chat for after the chapter, but first:

 _Disclaimer : I do not own Pokémon or any other referenced media within this story except for my original characters and locations._

"3..."

"2..."

"1..."

"GO!!!"

Rio, Kora, and Minerva shot off towards the forest path leading to the beach. Much to Rio's surprise, he was able to match Kora and Minerva's speed, probably because they were taking it easy on him. It was still noon, the sun's warm rays and the winds cool breeze left the air feeling perfect for an afternoon of racing against Rio's new friends. Within seconds, the three left The Shopping Square and entered the Sunset Valley Forest (more commonly called the Sunset Forest for time). The path was more straightforward than Rio first expected, making the race more of a test of speed and stamina than anything else.

"Hey Kora! How long until we get to the beach exactly?" Rio shouted, no sign of fatigue in his voice as he spoke.

"I'd say it's about half an hour, give or take a few minutes. Why? You're not tired already are you?" Kora replied, moments before Minerva jumped over him.

"If the two of ya are gonna keep talkin, I'll just go on ahead to the beach!" She shouted as she sprinted deeper into the forest.

"What the, _tsk,_ whatever. C'mon Rio, let's pick up the pace. If I lose to her, I'd never hear the end of it." Kora said, running much faster than when they started. The Outlander took a deep breath and started to increase his speed. His body had no problems speeding up, it naturally lowered itself closer to the ground and, before long, caught right up to Kora again. The Zoroark was caught off guard, but took this as an opportunity to go even faster.

"Alright boy in blue! Let's see you catch up to me now!" Kora went on all fours and greatly increased his stride, practically leaping each time he hit the ground. In meer moments, Kora leaped far over Minerva, sending her a smug grin before landing and taking off again.

"Wha- NO FAIR! You said ya wouldn't be goin on all fours ya lyin twerp!" Minerva exclaimed, before being met with Rio. Quickly, she hopped on his back before he shot off passed her.

"I'll buy you some more pie if we win, just don't let that cheater get away!" The feline commanded before Rio could protest. Thankfully, Minerva was light enough to carry without putting too much strain on himself, so he didn't mind. Rio tried once more to push his body to go even faster, copying Kora by going on all fours. It wasn't as uncomfortable as you'd think. Minerva wrapped her arms around Rio's chest so she didn't fly off as he sprinted through the forest.

"Are ya sure ya ain't used to that body of yours already? You're movin pretty damn fast, Rio!" Minerva questioned her fuzzy blue friend.

"This is a surprise to me too, just this morning I could barely walk without Kora's help." Rio replied, jumping over a fallen tree trunk and landing almost perfectly. Before long, Rio and Minerva were able to see Kora again. Minerva urged Rio to speed up some more, who was cautious to push his body any further. He couldn't tell if this speed was his limit, but he didn't want to over exert himself to find out. Slowly but surely, Rio and Minerva crept ever closer to Kora.

"Alright, when I get close, why don't you try to get on him and slow him down?" Rio plotted with Minerva.

"If I do this and mess up, it's on you fuzzball." Minerva stated, getting herself ready to jump. A moment passes and Rio closes the distance as much as he can between him and Kora without being noticed.

"Now's your chance, hurry!" Rio whispered, trying not to alert the fox ahead of him.

"Are ya crazy?! This is nowhere near close enough!" Minerva exclaimed. The gap was fairly large, perhaps 6 or 7 feet between the fox and the dog. Rio gritted his teeth and got a couple feet closer.

"Minerva I can't get much closer, just jump!"

"Of course ya can get closer! Are ya _TRYING_ to get me killed?"

"No I'm not, trying..." Rio felt uneasy for a moment, his limbs started to feel sluggish and heavy. Everything else around him also started to slow down. Before Rio could blink, everything around him froze, including him.

' _Wh-what's going on?'_ He thought to himself, his body felt as hard as stone. Rio felt trapped, the eerie silence and lack of motion was getting to him, even though only a few moments have passed. He wanted to cry for help, but he couldn't even breath at this point.

' _What, how, who..?_ ' Millions of questions filled Rio's mind. Fortunately, everything unfroze soon after. The beat of his heart, the air he breathed into his lungs, the blood and adrenaline from the race, everything returned just as quick as they had left. Unfortunately, Rio was still distracted by what actually happened that he stumbled as he was able to move again. He tumbled forward a good six feet before stopping, Minerva had fallen off of him after he tripped. Kora, stopped dead in his tracks, leaving claw marks in the ground. His breathing was rapid and filled with unease, his fur stood on end and his eyes darted in all directions.

"Wh-what the hell was that?!" Minerva shouted, clenching her chest.

"I have no idea. Everything just, stopped." Rio replied, his legs shook as he tried to stand. Kora, after calming himself down, went over to help his friends up. The three stood in silence, not knowing what to do now or even what to say. Each of the stood fully on guard, the feeling of stiff air and frozen life still present to them. They turned to go back to the square, but after ten feet they hit a "wall". There was nothing there, but they could feel something solid. Kora quickly went back up the path but reached another "wall".

"...We're trapped." Minerva said, trying her best not to panic. The three of them went to the center of their "cage" with their backs against each other. Kora had calmed himself down but Rio and Minerva's fear kept them jumpy and on edge. Minutes started to feel like hours, and after what seemed like an eternity, they were approached by a silhouette. It's body was shrouded in darkness and it's shape was unrecognizable. The only thing they could pick out was that it was shaped similarly to Rio and Kora, but only from the neck down. They weren't able to see silhouette's face at all.

"You aren't the one who caused this, were you?" Kora asked without any hint of fear or hesitation. A jagged mouth appeared on what would be the silhouette's face. The mouth opened but no sound came out, and yet, they understood it clearly.

"Who cares for the details? I wanna fight you! I wanna fight you right now!" It got into a fighting stance of some kind, bouncing on one leg then on the other. Kora got on all fours once more, preparing to attack. Rio and Minerva stood back, neither having the courage to fight. The figure jumped at Kora with remarkable speed, hitting him to the side.

"Come on, come on! It's no fun if I only play with one of my toys!" The figure exclaimed, the cat and dog Pokémon both back away as far as they could. The childlike tone to its words creeped them out immensely. Kora pounced on the figure, slashing with his claws. They hit, in fact it sliced right through his target. The problem, however, was when the figure put itself back together.

"Such fun! We're playing to win and you know how to do it! Hooray!" The figure laughed and kicked Kora in the chest. While the fox was winded, the silhouette hit in the side of the head with something that was like an arm but far too deformed. Kora tried to retaliate but all his slices and kicks went right through his adversary without damaging it.

"Oh man, you're no fun! No fun at all! Holding back is the least fun you could be! Watch and learn!" The figure raised an arm and fired a black beam from its palm. Kora was barely able to avoid it, jumping to the side as fast as he could. The silhouette made a distorted, high-pitched cackle as it fired more beams at Kora.

"Why don't we have my other toys join our game?" The figure turned for a second and aimed at Minerva. Unknowingly, Rio grabbed Minerva and jumped over to Kora before the beam hit.

"What _are_ you?! What the HELL are you?!?" Minerva shouted, fear and confusion riddled her voice as she forced herself to speak.

"I already told you, who cares! All I want is to _play_ with _my_ toys!" The silhouette jumped around as it spoke.

"But if only one of my toys play then I will just have to break the others and get new ones!" The figure gave a menacing, jagged-toothed grin.

"Toys are no fun if they break easily, so why have the weak ones around at all?" The figure appeared right in front of Rio. His body wouldn't move, it stood shaking in fear and exhaustion. He could hear Minerva and Kora scream as the figure opened it mouth to a terrifying size, and engulfed him.

"Rio!"

"..Rio.!"

"Hey, Rio? Wake up ya dummy!" Rio jumped awake in a cold sweet. Minerva and Kora stood above him. He was still at the square?

"I-it was a nightmare.." The sun was a bit lower than when they had eaten the pie, maybe he wasn't out that long. Rio was still panting and a little paranoid, that nightmare was, something else.

"Ya dozed off after scarfin down the pie, what kinda dream did ya have that got ya so worked up?" Minerva asked, helping Rio to his feet.

"We raced to the beach, and we got trapped in the forest in some weird box with a, a living shadowy thing that wanted to fight us. It called us weak toys and it ate me whole." Rio explained, shivering at the thought of that unfortunate end. The other two didn't really now what to make of this nightmare.

"To me, this nightmare sounds like just that. A nightmare. I'm sure it's nothing to get too worried about. Besides, I don't think some shapeless blob could do any of us in." Kora said reassuringly, patting Rio on the shoulder.

"Anyway, while you were out, we decided to head over to beach. I mean, if you think your dream has any truth to it, we could always wait for another day." Kora suggested.

"I'm sure it was nothing, really!" Rio said, in his head he couldn't figure out why he still _did_ want to go. There's no problem in waiting but he felt like he _had_ to go to the beach.

"Alright alright. We can head on over now. We should be able to get to the beach in about an hour, if we walk all the way there, that is." Kora stated, producing a nervous reaction from Rio.

"I think it'd be best if we didn't race, Kora," Rio said nervously, "I-I mean, because I'm still new to this body and all, ha ha..." Rio quickly calmed back down and scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed smile.

"Ok then, I guess we walk." Kora replied, worried about his friend. The three walked side by side towards the forest path.

/ _About 50 minutes later, at the beach shore/_

An exhausted Rio fell face first into the sand, groaning. Minerva and Kora, unlike the blue dog, were perfectly fine.

"This is the last stop for today, Sunset Beach. A descriptive and original name, I know." Kora joked, sadly getting no laughs from either of his companions. Instead he received more groaning from Rio and a loud sigh from Minerva.

"Geez Rio, I didn't think walkin would getcha so worn out. Guess it didn't help that the twerp over there was tryin out some "new" material on us." Minerva spoke to the still groaning dog in the sand.

"It's not just that, even though every punchline he said felt like I was getting punched in my side, but my entire body is _aching._ No amount of crappy stand-up comedy could do that." Rio replied, rolling onto his back. Kora, feeling both ignored and ridiculed, sat in front of a tree sulking. Minerva sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Well, if you're gonna joke like I child, it only makes sense that ya would cry like one too. C'mon, get back over here ya crybaby." Minerva said to Kora, but he started sulking more.

"If ya keep sulkin like that it's gonna get everyone else depressed. Now get your furry butt over here!" The slightly more irritated feline shouted.

"Maybe I wouldn't sulk so much if you two didn't bash on my jokes so hard. Just because your small doesn't mean you can't have a larger sense of humor!" Kora shouted, with instant regret of all his actions. Minerva, now absolutely livid, stomped over to the cowering fox and grabbed him by the mane. Kora frantically apologized while the angry cat dragged him towards the sea. As she got to the shore, Minerva lifted Kora above her head and threw him as far into the ocean as she could.

"TRY CALLIN ME SMALL AGAIN, I DARE YA!!" Minerva shouted, throwing rocks and sea shells at the fox as he tried to gather his senses from being thrown. Rio, currently sitting up, watched this entire even transpire and laughed to himself.

"You two are really good friends, huh?" He said to her, watching Kora try and dodge everything thrown at him.

"Friends..." Much like at Jax's gym, Rio couldn't remember much about his old friends. Whenever he tried to think about them, the memory would be fuzzy and almost unrecognizable. He knew he had friends and a family but he was struggling to remember them clearly. Rio realized he was tearing up at the thought, and wiped them away. By this time, Minerva finally calmed down, and Kora was able to safely make it back to shore.

"*pant* *pant* I said, I was sorry!" Kora exclaimed, picking shells out of his mane. Minerva shrugged, siting down next to Rio.

"And I said not to call me short, now we're even."

"That's not how that works!" Kora sat on the other side of Rio, getting the last of the shells from his mane and tossed it into the ocean. Similar to earlier in the day, the three sat in silence looking into the sky. The sounds of the waves crashing and the wind blowing did it's best to fill in that empty space which would be filled with voices, but they could only do so much.

"So..." Kora said, trying to think of something to break the silence, "Rio... what do you think of the Valley so far?" Minerva snickered.

"That's such a boring question, twerp."

"You try to think of something to say then!" Kora retorted.

"Ok, um, so, uh..." Minerva stuttered, drawing a total blank.

"See? It isn't easy to think of entertaining things to say, Minnie." Minerva angrily pounced onto Kora, who actually decided to fight back this time. As the two threw punches and kicks and sand everywhere, Rio sighed and moved out of their way. He was busy trying not to think about his life. To try and clear his head, Rio focused on the few clouds floating in the sky. His head was so far into the clouds he didn't noticed three new Pokémon walk up behind him.

"Seems we walked in on the old married couple settling a dispute with their third wheel." A rough, feminine voice mocked from behind the blue dog, snapping him back to reality. Kora and Minerva stopped their fight, breathing heavily. Kora tossed Minerva off of him and stood up, dusting himself off.

"Great, I go from dealin with one annoyin fox to dealin with the obnoxious ferret." Minerva groaned, helping herself up. Rio eventually decided to face the new Pokémon as well. The first was a Zangoose with a pink stripe instead of the normal red, and behind her was a Bisharp and a Scrafty.

"Oh great, Eva and her drones. To what do we owe the pleasure?" Kora said extremely sarcastically.

"Can it. We came for him," Eva the Zangoose stated, pointing at Rio, "heard from a little birdie that a new Outlander showed up, and thought from the kindness of my heart to add him to my team. Figured if anyone should have the ability to get limitless power, it should be us." The Bisharp and Scrafty nodded in agreement. Kora rolled his eyes and groaned.

"Well, he's with us. And don't try to treat him like some power boost, he's a Pokémon just like you and me."

"You? Last I checked you're some half breed freak with an ego larger than his own strength. The only _real_ Pokémon here are with me, and that sad little cat that follows you around." Kora, Minerva and Rio each got ready to fight.

"Take. That. Back." Kora said through gritted teeth. Eva laughed.

"Do you think I'm scared of some puffed up fox? I don't need an evolution to put you in the ground, half breed." Eva mocked, her and her team also getting ready to fight.

"Rio, these three are asking for a good old fashioned beat down. If you hate bullies so much, then you don't have a reason to hold back against these guys. Show them what Outlanders are made out of!" Kora commanded, Rio nodded.

"I'm not gonna stand here and let you talk down to Kora and Minerva! We'll beat you right here, right now!" Rio shouted. Deep down, something in him sparked.

"Please, as if I'd listen to the worthless cries of some _thing_ in a Pokémon's body!" The Bisharp replied, chuckling.

"I'm gonna give ya one chance to high tail it outta here, lizard boy. I'm the _last_ cat ya wanna fight, lizard breath!" Minerva said, extending her claws.

"Oh please. The day I get scared by a pussycat half my size is the day I die." The Scrafty mocked, Minerva grinned maliciously.

" _Good,_ even if ya took me up on my offered, I'd have hunted you down and beat ya to a pulp anyway!"

"Guess that leaves me and you, half breed. Don't say I didn't warn you." Eva laughed.

"I'm gonna enjoy making you cry, ferret!" Kora roared, running straight for Eva. Rio ran for the Bisharp, and Minerva for the Scrafty. As soon as Rio got close enough, he tried to punch with everything he got, but the Bisharp jumped back, effortlessly evading his attack.

"Ha! Is _that_ the best you got, Outlander!" The Bisharp said, jumping into the forest. Rio quickly ran in after him.

/ _In a clearing in Sunset Forest_ /

As Rio caught up to the Bisharp, he wasn't met with the challenger who mocked him as he ran, but a stern and serious individual. The Bisharp didn't even look like he was ready to fight.

"What are you..?" Rio asked, keeping his guard up, just in case.

"I had to drag you away from the others for a moment. I'm going to be blunt, with your dormant power remaining dormant, you will die." The Bisharp said coldly. Rio tensed up more, but at the same time, his legs began shaking. The way this Pokémon spoke felt as painful as being stabbed.

"You can barely even move in that body, let alone fight. I would give you the option to run, but that wouldn't help either of us. Strong Outlanders only appear when the world is in danger, but if I am to know if the world that I am living in should soon fall, I need to awaken your dormant power promptly." Rio stood surprised at how much the Bisharp knew already about Outlanders.

"You seem more, respectable, than that Eva that you follow around. Why do you let her boss you around?" Rio was met with a sharp pain to his stomach instead of an answer. The Lucario fell to his knees in pain, clenching his stomach and gasping for air.

"I did not separate us to answer your questions. As I see it, you're still a piece of trash in a Pokémon's body." The Bisharp said, kicking Rio to the side, "If you don't hurry up and fight, I will not hesitate to kill you."

Rio strained to get up, barely catching his breath before being struck back down by the ruthless Pokémon he faced. Again and again, Rio would be struck with blows he could barely see. But through all the pain he received, he was able to keep picking himself up. The Bisharp scoffed at the stubbornness of the Outlander, kicking him into a tree, cracking the trunk nearly all the way through.

"The durability of a Lucario shines through! It's a shame such a capable vessel is carrying such a weak soul!" The Bisharp punched Rio in the stomach, cracking the tree more. Rio couldn't respond, every word he tried to muster would get trapped in his throat.

"In this world, respect is earned in battle. If you can't fight, then you're as good as dead!" The Bisharp struck again. The tree behind Rio creaked and moaned.

"If you die here, your friends out there will be slaughtered by Eva and Kane! Do you _want_ to let them die!?" The Bisharp punched Rio with more force than his earlier attacks, sending the defenseless dog through the tree trunk. Rio couldn't move his body, not just from the attacks but because it was too heavy.

"An Outlander incapable of using the body they were given is lower than those who flaunt their gifts upon us Pokémon! Outlanders have the potential to become gods, with the power to tear through mountains like paper, to channel the power of the very earth, and you bring shame to that title, moreso than your egotistical brethren!" The Bisharp roared, extending his open hand in Rio's direction.

"I, Zen, a purebred Bisharp, through sheer determination and will, have surpassed nearly everyone on this Arceus forsaken island. And despite the fact that you were _chosen_ to save Pokémon, _chosen_ to bring balance to this planet, you haven't landed a single blow to me," a black aura radiated from the Bisharp's palm, growing darker and darker as he spoke, "either the planet is fine or we're all dead already." A black force shot from the Pokémon's palm, slamming into Rio's entire body, no, his entire being. He could feel it go through him, and it _burned_. It was like being crushed on all sides, and being burnt from the inside out. Rio screamed in agony, unable to move.

"If you can't beat a Pokémon when you have the stronger body, then you don't deserve the life you were given. Now die, worthless scum!" Zen places his free hand on the arm shooting out the black aura, forcing out even more. Rio screamed louder, the force of the blast unbearable to him at this point. Beneath Rio's screams and pain, the spark inside him grew into a booming roar. The Lucario's eyes, which were a dull and dark red, began to glow. The pain he was suffering fueled his rage, his screams of pain shifted into shouts of anger.

Zen stopped his attack and stared at the fallen Outlander in disgust. He turned to exit the forest and began walking away.

"That... hurt..." Zen stopped immediately.

"That really... _really_ hurt." Zen turned to see Rio standing there, bruised and bloodied, twigs and leaves in his fur.

"Don't bother, you've wasted enough of my time." The Bisharp stated, facing the Lucario with an annoyed look.

"I take back what I said earlier, you are much less respectable than your companions." Rio growled. The Zen frowned.

"And that high horse you've built yourself on, I'm gonna take it down with _my_ own two paws," Rio stood in a fighting stance, gritting his teeth and preparing to attack, "the paws of MY body, the body that will shut you up!" Rio's body become engulfed in a bright blue and white aura, the band on his wrist extended up to his elbow, his eyes glowing a bright crimson. The aura made Rio's beaten and broken body feel like it was finally his own, he could move freely without the feeling of weights dragging him down.

"I will make you respect me in the only way I can in this world, as you just told me." Rio ran up to the Bisharp, his speed increased noticeably, and slammed his palm into the opposing Pokémon's chest. The Bisharp was caught off guard, taking the full force of the attack and being pushed back.

"I'm not just gonna beat you, I'M GONNA PUMMEL YOU!" Rio roared, slamming his palm into the side of Zen's head. The dark and steel Pokémon tried to retaliate with a quick Slash, but was disorientated by Rio's strike and missed. The angered Outlander showed his opponent the same relentless force that was given to him, slamming his palms into the Bisharp's stomach. The dark type tried to punch Rio, but his fist was caught with ease.

Rio pulled the Pokémon closer to him, swiftly forcing his knee into Zen's face. Zen quickly grabbed Rio's leg, using it as leverage to get another punch in. The Bisharp slugged Rio in the face with his fist covered in black aura. He then opened his palm and the black aura appeared, ready to fire again.

"Enough! Your anger isn't going to be enough to-" Rio kicked Zen in the stomach with his free leg, causing the Bisharp to let go of his other leg. The Outlander quickly got back up and kicked Zen in the side. As Zen began to get himself to his feet, Rio stood before him. They both were visibly hurt, Rio much more than Zen, unfortunately. The adrenaline starting to fade from his body, Rio fell to his knees. The pain was starting to catch up to him. The aura that shrouded his body started to flicker out.

"Is that, you're limit?" Zen said, approaching Rio.

"Weren't you going to break down my high horse? Weren't you going to pummel me?" Zen spat, holding his palm towards Rio again. A faint black aura covered the Bisharp's hand, slowly getting darker.

"I said it before, and I will say it again. You bring shame to the title of Outlander, worthless scum.." Before Zen could fire his attack again, Rio stood to his feet once more. The Lucario didn't shake in fear, nor did he look overcome with pain. He had the look of determination, even in the face of his defeat.

"I'm not gonna die here. I have to save this world, and if I lose here I wouldn't be able to do that. So even if you blast me again, I'll stand right back up. You can cut me or punch me or kick me all you want, but I will never stay on the ground, you hear me!!" Rio shouted, and for a moment, his aura flared up again. Zen paused, taken aback by the Outlander's sheer will and stubbornness. The Bisharp lowered his hand.

"You are still incredibly weak. You only damaged me because I let my guard down. If you don't get stronger, our next encounter won't leave both of us alive." Zen stated, walking past Rio.

"However, there are not many who can survive my Dark Pulse point blank like that, even with the type advantage. You have yet to earn my respect, scum, but you have piqued my interest." Zen said before disappearing outside the forest. Rio fell on his back when he was finally alone, the orange sunlight above the trees warned him of the coming night. He panted lightly, his breath appearing as a faint cloud in the decreasing temperature.

"Owwww... I wanna go to bed." He said to himself.

"But first, I gotta help Kora and Minerva." Rio raised himself off the ground, his body feeling heavy again. 'D-damn it,' he thought, 'I hope I _can_ give the others my help.' The Lucario walked towards the sounds of fighting, holding his stomach with one hand.

"No, I _have_ to help them! No matter what!" Rio ran out the forest, trying to surprise the thought of pain from his mind. The beach looked like a battlefield, craters scattered across the shoreline, cracked shells littered the sand and the sounds of battle rang clear through the air. Rio saw Kora and Minerva teaming up against Eva and Kane, each of them looked almost as bad, if not, worse than Rio. Even more evident to Rio was the light that came off of all four of them. Eva and Minerva had light grey auras while Kane and Kora had almost pitch black auras.

/ _Right at the Shoreline of the Beach/_

"*pant* *pant* This fight should've been a landslide! How are either of you still standing?!" Kane shouted.

"That's because, neither of you could compare to us, and pretty soon, you're both gonna regret thinking you were better than either of us." Kora said, getting ready to fight once more.

"If ya both wanna run away, I wouldn't stop ya. I haven't even broke a sweat!" Minerva mocked the ferret and lizard.

"Shut your mouth before I shut it for you!" Eva yelled, jumping high above Minerva, her claws glowing a bright red. As she came crashing down, the Zangoose was stopped by Kora catching both her arms. While Kora was busy holding off Eva, Kane quickly ran up to attack the distracted fox, before being stopped by Minerva. The fox and feline were more talk than they were bite, unfortunately, and both of their defenses starting to fail. Kora quickly threw Eva behind him into the ocean, however he also fell backwards and couldn't catch himself in time.

Eva recovered right before she landed, running back to attack the fallen fox. Her claws again glowing bright red.

"Die! Crush Claw!" As she reached Kora, Eva slammed her claws right into Kora's chest, but instead of feeling the body of a Zoroark, her claws went right through him and into the sand. The Kora she struck faded as the real one was just a foot away from where she struck.

"I won't be hitting any of your illusions this time, fox!" Eva said, readying to attack again. Rio finally reached the four, his aura again radiating from him, and hit the ferret with both palms.

"You're only half right, you won't be hitting anything this time!" Rio said, even with his aura making it easier to move, he could tell that it is right at its limit. Rio turned to Minerva, who was struggling to keep Kane from overpowering her. The Lucario ran up and kicked Kane as hard and as fast as he could, landing the hit right on his shoulder.

"Damnit, the Outlander made it back? Wait, where the hell did Zen go?!" Eva shouted, seeing how fast everything was going downhill.

"That stuck-up bastard must've left us for dead!" Kane shouted, holding his shoulder. Both the lizard and the ferret stared at Rio in surprise.

"Th-the Outlander's aura! Did that prick _help_ him?!?" Eva exclaimed, her anger rising.

"I'm gonna strangle that Bisharp when I see him again! Kane, let's go!" Eva demanded, running down the shore with Kane right behind her. After a minute, the two darted into the forest. Rio's aura faded and he fell to his knees. Minerva and Kora both walked over to Rio and helped him up.

"We... we did it... right?" Rio asked, his voiced sounding strained. Minerva nodded and smiled.

"Yep! We showed them punks not to talk trash about us again!"

"And I think we did it with minimal broken bones, too." Kora said, putting Rio's arm around his shoulder and chuckling. Rio chuckled lightly and smiled weakly.

"Maybe you guys did, I'm pretty sure I have a lot more than a few." The three of them chuckled and started walking back towards the path leading to the square.

"Man, what is Mom gonna say when I bring you both back looking like this?" Kora sighed, "What is Kai gonna say? Actually, it'd be smarter to ask what he wouldn't say. Ugh, the last thing we need is him talking our ears off all night." Rio and Minerva laughed a bit, making Kora's eyes light up.

"Hey, you guys _actually_ laughed at my joke! Maybe we should get beat up more often!" Kora joked, this time getting a smaller reaction.

"How about we don't do that. I think the one fight is good for now." Rio said.

"Yea, I don't think I could take fightin those goons any longer. Thanks to Rio, we were able to scare 'em off with their tails between their legs!" Minerva said gratefully, grinning at Rio.

"Oh yea, you got your body to give off that aura and you punched Eva away from me. Guess I owe you one." Kora said, lightly hugging Rio to the side. "Speaking of your aura, what did Zen do to you that awakened it?"

Rio winced at the thought of being crushed by Zen's Dark Pulse, and all the attacks he was tormented with. "Maybe I'll tell you when we get back. Kai and Miss Diana are both gonna want to hear it."

"Oh! I almost forgot! Minerva, I'd rather not leave you by yourself when you're almost as busted up as I am, so I was thinking you could spend the night over at my place until we got better. That cool with you?" Kora asked. Minerva shrugged, which she regretted after, holding her arm.

"Yea I won't mind. Hopefully your Mum won't mind lettin me crash for the night."

"Even if she was upset with how bad we got hurt, she'd never turn you down. It's not like the fight was your fault, right?"

"I guess you're right, twerp. It's a shame how far away your house is from the beach, it's gonna be a long walk," Minerva looked up. The sky was purple and dark blue above them, "and we definitely ain't gettin back before nightfall." The three tried to pick up the pace as much as they could muster, which was a little slower than a jog, and didn't talk most of the way to the square.

/ _Kora's House, 23 minutes later/_

Home sweet home! We finally got back." Kora said, they were able to recover a bit before they arrived, but Rio's body still felt heavy and Minerva's arms were still sore. Kora was bruised all over his body but managed to power through most of it.

"We're back, and I brought Minerva over to stay the night, if that's alright." Kora said aloud, his mom's voice came from the garden.

"Of course she can stay! We decided to eat diner in the garden so come and join us!" She shouted back.

"You beda hurry befer I eat it all!" Kai shouted, it was clear his face was stuffed from the muffled sound of his voice. Kora took in a deep breath and walked into the garden with Rio and Minerva. As they approached, Diana, Mia, and Kai, they each had a different reaction to seeing the three beat up Pokémon.

"How was you- oh my goodness, what happened to you three?" Diana said, a very worried look on her face. Kai was more in awe of cool they looked, and Mia didn't seem to care too much. Diana got up and hugged all three of them tightly, which hurt them more than she intended.

"W-we got in a big fight with Eva and her two goons. Can you please let go, we're still extremely sore." Kora sputtered out, wishing his mother wasn't crushing him in a loving embrace. Diana quickly realized what she was accidentally doing and let go of them. Diana sat them down infront of the metal pot, this time it was hot and steaming, with the charred and burnt wood below it keeping it warm.

"You guys look like you got totally beat! Did you win?" Kai asked, thankfully he swallowed whatever was in his mouth earlier.

"If you think we look bad, you should see how bad Eva and the others look. We swept the beach floor with them!" Kora responded, a proud grin plastered on his face.

"Rio here was even able to use his aura to fight with us! He actually saved us both in the end." Kora said with a cheerful smile.

"You got your aura to awaken? How does your body feel now, sweetheart?" Diana asked, giving the injured Pokémon each a bowl full of the Mixed Berry Stew she made.

"When I was fighting, well at first I was getting effortlessly beat up by Zen, but after he hit me with a Dark Pulse, I got covered with this blue light and it made my body feel light. Unfortunately, after my aura turned off after the fight, my body went back to feeling heavy." Rio explained, drinking a mouthful of the stew.

"Hmm, maybe when your body was under great stress and at risk of defeat, it awakened the aura so it could protect itself. I don't think you've yet to make the body your own, so it might still feel heavy until you can." Diana replied, that worried look still didn't leave her.

"Don't worry Miss Diana, we're fine. What's a little bit a fightin gonna do to us?" Minerva said, trying to reassure her.

"Yea, there was no way we were gonna lose!" Kora added. The two succeeded in easing Diana's worries, although only partially.

"If you say so. I don't like seeing you this hurt Kora, any of you for that matter. If you run into those three again, try and be more careful. Promise me that, you three, please?" Diana asked, holding her paws together.

Kora, Rio, and Minerva each nodded their heads and said, "We promise we'll be more careful." Diana smiled her sweet smile and hugged the three again, much softer this time, for their sakes.

"Thanks kids." She said before letting them go again. "Now, I know that you three must be tired and hungry, so you can stay up and eat as much as you like before getting your rest. Kai, Mia, let's go inside and get ready for bed.

"Alright Mom, see ya bros, see ya Minnie!" Kai said, bouncing back inside behind Diana.

"Why I... ya know what, neva mind. I'm too tired to punch anything else today. My paws are sore as hell." Minerva said to herself. The three, even with the extra space around the pot, stayed next to each other as they ate. Kora in the middle, Rio on the left and Minerva to the right. The dim light from the firewood was practically unseeable under the light of the moon, which was high up in the sky.

"It feels like the moon never leaves its place sometimes. It just waits in the daytime until the sun comes down." Rio said, eating his second bowl of stew.

Kora nodded, "It comes out earlier in the Fall I guess. If we waited any longer in that fight, Zen, Kane and I would've been powered up by the moon. That would get real ugly real fast." The fox stated, finishing his bowl.

"Uhg, ya mean the lizard would get even more obnoxious! 'With the moon on my side, there's no way I could lose to you now, pussycat!' That's exactly what he woulda said." Minerva said, while imitating Kane's voice and pretending to flex her muscles. Kora and Rio got a good laugh from her impression. After downing atleast three bowls each, Kora and Rio both drank five, they laid on their backs and watched the starry night sky. Rio yawned and stretched until his bruises stopped him.

"I'm beat. Honestly, if it wasn't for the almost getting beat to death, I'd say I had a pretty great day." Rio said, thinking back to how ruthless Zen was in the fight.

"You and me both. I wish we had more time, we coulda went to the hot spring and washed out some of the sand and pain. Rio, if you hadn't stopped Eva from attacking me, I'd be in much worse shape right now." Kora thanked Rio again. The bruised blue dog smiled.

"Oh you flatterer. I'm sure you wouldn't be _that_ bad."

"Nah, ya saved me too, fuzzball. Those three brought their a-game to that fight. I think they might've started trainin." Minerva added.

"What? Why would any of them train for anything? You don't think they're actually out to get us, right?" Kora asked, lowering his voice a bit.

"Nah, atleast I hope not. I think they're gettin prepared to join the guild."

"That would also explain why they'd wanna get Rio. Geez, they can't even rely on their own strength, they gotta try and force Rio to help get them in." Kora said, frowning at the idea.

"Maybe, we should train up too," Rio suggested, "seeing how close we were in the fight and all. We could also join the guild after I get used to this body." Minerva and Kora thought about it. The idea to join the guild hardly ever crossed either of their minds. They could have joined with just the two of them, but they didn't really have the urge to actually apply.

"That sounds, like a great idea, actually." Kora said, "once we're part of the guild, we can see places off the island, right?"

"And we could go on expeditions, too." Minerva added.

" _And_ we'd be able to get stronger! Plus, I bet if we're a better team than Eva and her guys, they'd leave us alone!" Rio also added, which seemed to also resonate with the other two.

"We'd be able to show up that cocky brat and her drones."

"And finally shut her stupid yap while we're at it!" Minerva and Kora both hugged Rio, it was more Kora hugging Rio and Minerva jumping on top of Kora, actually.

"Rio, you're a genius!" They both said in unison. Rio laughed and blushed from his friends kinda over-the-top reaction as they both landed on him.

"Th-thanks guys, but could you not lay on me?" The fox and feline rolled off of Rio and snickered.

"Alright so tomorrow we rest up at the hot spring and the day after that we start our training!" Kora said aloud, making Minerva and Rio shush him. Each of them smiled and laid on the soft dirt. They were soon drowsy and started to fall asleep. With the faint warmth from the pot and the moonlight shining all around them, Kora, Minerva, and Rio dozed off into slumber.

/ _End Of Chapter Two/_

Fusion: honestly, getting back into writing has been a whole lot of fun. Sometimes I look back at my first story and I'm amazed at how incredibly awful it was. This story, I'm putting in much more effort than I did in my first story and I think there's a clear difference between them. I still have a LOT of small mistakes and habits I'm trying to get out of my system so I can make the story as great as I can. Since next week is Thanksgiving, I might have the next chapter out on Sunday instead of Saturday, which isn't a problem at all for me.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will see you all in the next chapter.

See ya!


	4. Unexpected Rage at Sunset Springs

Fusion: I'm quite happy with how the story has been turning out so far, I can't believe I forgot how fun writing stories were. I'll just get right into the story because I can't wait to write it.

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any series referenced within this story_

 _/Somewhere In The Forest/_

Rio was awakened by the sun shining on his face. For some reason, he couldn't feel the heat from the sun. The Outlander looked all around him, but all he saw were trees. No berry plants, no metal pot, and not even his friends. The air was cold, but Rio didn't shiver. To make his situation even more unnerving was the feeling that he was being watched.

"Is... is anyone there?" Rio called into the woods, not expecting a reply. The only response he received was eerie silence. The Outlander decided it would be best to venture out into the woods and find, well, anyone really.

The silence was soon replaced with the sound of crunching leaves and rustling grass under Rio's feet. He wasn't able to shake the feeling however, but instead felt it grow as he progressed through the forest. After a few minutes of walking, Rio came across a clearing. In the middle was a tree stump with a white and black Pokémon upon it. The Pokémon, didn't look right. He couldn't put his finger on it, but Rio could've sworn that he was looking at more than one Pokémon.

"Who are you?" Rio asked, the Pokémon jumped, supposedly it was lost in thought before Rio arrived.

"...Oh... You're already here." It said. The voice it produced couldn't really be described, it might've been the sound of multiple Pokémon talking at once. The Pokémon ushered Rio closer, and Rio didn't object to it. Even when Rio stood infront of the Pokémon he was unable to tell what it was.

"Didn't... didn't you fight me the last time I saw you?" Rio asked, getting a puzzled face as a response.

"...Last time? I've never seen you before... I've never left this spot."

"You've never left this spot? Why? Are you waiting for someone?"

"...Was I?...Oh Yes, I was waiting for a Lucario to show up...I have to tell him something important." Whenever the figure paused, Rio could have sworn that it swapped the black and white, but he was too distracted with what it could be to say for sure.

"What were you going to tell him?" Rio asked, this time getting a blank expression from the Pokémon.

"...I was going to tell him that he needs to remember something..." the figure looked back into the forest.

"...He should be arriving now." After a moment passed, Rio heard something exit the forest. It was a Lucario. He had an arm band on his right arm, and he didn't look to be in the best shape, like he got in a fight recently.

"There's... two of you now?" The Lucario said, approaching Rio and the Pokémon.

"... —————, you must remember..." the Pokémon paused for a second, as if they couldn't remember it themselves.

"...You must remember... who you were... you mustn't forget again." The Pokémon got off the stump, and stretched out it's hand to the Lucario.

"... You, Rio, you must learn... learn about this Lucario... he is more than what you think him to be..." the Pokémon held it's hand also to Rio. Rio hesitantly took the Pokémon's hand, as did the Lucario. In the blink of an eye, the three appeared in a different forest, with trees taller than their eyes could see, and air more humid than either could take.

"Where-?" Before Rio could finish, two Pokémon, a Zoroark and a Lucario walked _through_ him.

"...Before you freak out, I must note that you cannot let go of my hand... If you do, you will not be able to return easily..." The Pokémon stated before Rio could, well, freak out. "...Instead of asking questions... I advise that you listen to these two... both of you..."

The two Pokémon seemed to be arguing over something.

"Dammit, I told you we shouldn't have went through the MASSIVE HAUNTED FOREST! The ONE place the locals said, and I quote, 'will eat the two of you alive for you to never return'. You _never_ listen to me!" The Zoroark shouted. Her voice was quite noticeably angry, and somewhat familiar too.

"It's not like _you_ were helping make any plans on how to get out of this dump! It's either the Haunted Forest or the sea, and I believe YOU were the one complaining about being seasick every three minutes!" The Lucario shouted back.

"There could have been another way! You're impatient ass just decided to bolt through the forest without a second thought, and do ya see were that brought us? To the MIDDLE OF A HAUNTED. **FOREST**!!!" The Zoroark roared even louder, practically fuming. The two marched deeper into the forest while sending more insults back and forth.

"Wait... do you hear a tree, moving?" ————— asked. Now that he mentioned it, Rio also heard the creaks of wood moving. The Zoroark and Lucario both stopped as well.

"Do you hear that?" The Zoroark asked, looking all around her.

"Yea, like wood creaking and all that?" The Lucario replied, closing his eyes. ————— froze entirely.

"What is this? I-It's like a chill didn't just creep up my spine, but everything inside me too." ————— said, a paranoid look on his face. "I-I remember this... I remember this! Oh no, they're gonna be-"

"We're surrounded! I guess by 'haunted', they meant 'infested with Trevenants'." The Lucario said, putting his back towards the Zoroark.

"Honestly, that's the last thing we need. Once again, thank you for dragging us into the Haunted Forest." The Zoroark sighed, brandishing her claws.

"When we get outta this," The Lucario got into a fighting stance, "I'll let _you_ choose where we go next." The Trevenants that the Lucario said we're surrounding them weren't easy to see in the dark, Rio realized. There could have been hundreds of them but he wasn't able to tell.

"I'm following your lead, don't mess this up, jackal." The fox stated. The Lucario groaned and jumped into the shadows, the Zoroark right behind him.

"Hey, how are they gonna see? It's too dark!" Rio asked the Pokémon with him.

"...That is not of importance right now... you, —————, can you recall what you needed to remember..?" The Pokémon didn't get an instant response from —————, he was too focused with his surroundings.

"I... yes, yes I do," He said, breathing heavy, "These... Trevenant, they can't see us right?"

"...Of course not... Is something the matter..?" The Pokémon asked, it's voice still quite unnerving to Rio.

"I can't say for sure, but _we_ just got surrounded, I think." He replied.

"How can you tell? I still can't see a thing in this dark." Rio asked, trying to suppress his growing anxiety. He didn't want an answer, in fact he was hoping they could leave before something goes wrong.

"... If you are paranoid, then we shall leave... You have acquired what it is you needed, so we shall be on our way..." the Pokémon stated, and within an instant, the three were back in the forest clearing with the stump in the middle. ————— started to calm down, his breathing became more soft and controlled.

"... I am afraid I will not be able to answer any of your remaining questions right now... There just isn't enough time..." the Pokémon said, sitting back down on the stump. "...Hopefully, next time I will have the energy to answer them..." The Pokémon motioned for the Rio And ————— to enter the forest.

"...You will find the exit in the direction you came..." After finishing that last sentence, the Pokémon went to sleep on the stump. Rio thought now would be a good time to ask ————— some things, but the Lucario was already gone. Rio sighed, and entered the forest to leave this place.

/ _Diana's Garden, Sunrise_

Rio woke up feeling groggy and still half asleep. He slept well, but the soreness of yesterday must still be tiring him out. He got the vague feeling that he had another dream, but couldn't remember anything about it. Well, nothing except for relaxing in a steamy hot spring.

Only a few moments later, Kora and Minerva woke up. Kora stretched out his body and yawned, and Minerva just laid in the same spot and stared into the sky.

"I'm not the only one that's still sore right?" Kora asked, yawning afterwards.

"Maybe we shouldn't have slept outside, my back's as stiff as a rock." Minerva replied. Rio sat himself up and stretched his arms and legs.

"To be honest, I don't feel much different than I did last night." Rio said.

"Atleast we got up at sunrise. I hope it's a sign that we won't have to get beat up again." Kora added, smiling softly.

The three got up and brought the blankets back inside. Diana, Kai and Mia were still asleep, so the three Pokémon folded the blankets and put them to the side. As they started to leave, Kora noticed a small cloth with a note saying,

 _"If you leave before I wake up, I left you three some macaroons for breakfast. Love, Mom. P.S. Remember to not get into any fights, honey!"_

Kora folded the letter and placed it in his mane, and carried the cloth outside. The fox caught up to his friends before they entered one of the forest paths.

"Alright, hopefully no one else will be at the springs this early. Once you get inside the water, you won't want to leave it." Kora said with a smile, handing one of the macaroons to Rio and Minerva.

"I'll have to take your word for it. Lead the way." Rio replied, returning a smile as well. As they went down the path, a small chill went up Rio's spine. He could have sworn that something bad was going to happen, but he hoped it was nothing. The jackal finished his macaroon and tried to shake the feeling off, following behind Minerva and Kora.

 _/10 Minutes Later, SV Hot Springs/_

As the air got hotter and more humid, the trio finally arrived to vacant hot springs. The springs were basically ponds with rocks of varying sizes all along the edge. Small bubbles could be seen rising up from the bottom of the spring, however you couldn't exactly see the bottom. There are three springs in total, two large ones and one smaller one that had a waterfall coming from the two larger springs. The trees around the area were much more red than elsewhere in the Valley, which only added to the serenity of the springs.

"Before we go in, I wanted to add something to the water." Kora said, pulling out three roses, one red, one white, and one light blue from his mane. He plucked the flowers from their stems, and scattered the petals onto the surface of one of the springs.

"What are those supposed ta do?" Minerva asked, wondering how Kora got his paws on those flowers in the first place.

"I don't know, it's just something my Mom does whenever we come here. I think it's just to make it look good." Kora shrugged. The fox and feline both eased themselves into the hot spring. Rio, however, slipped and fell inside. The heat of the water hit him so suddenly that he scrambled back out of the water. Minerva and Kora tried not to laugh at the mishap.

"Are you ok Rio? It might just be me but you look quite _heated_ at the moment." Kora joked. Minerva and Rio both boo'ed his joke promptly.

"I thought you were gettin bettah at your jokes. Boy was I wrong." Minerva teased. The fox sank a bit more into the water, mumbling something to himself. Rio, with much more caution this time, eased himself back into the water. Now that he wasn't falling in face-first, the spring felt much more soothing to him. His injuries almost seemed to melt right away. A look of pure relaxation was present on each of their faces.

" _Ahhhhh._ I could stay here all day if I could." Rio said with a relieved sigh. His two friends nodded.

"If it weren't for tha fact that other Pokémon use these, I'd never leave 'em." Minerva stated, her head laid just barely above the water.

"As much as I _really_ do want to just sit here, I was thinking that after we get all fixed up, we should see if Jax is willing to train us." Kora said, he had taken off the large blue gem that held his hair in place, and his mane spread across almost half the spring. For a moment, Rio thought he was talking to a sentient wig. It would seem, unfortunately, that the trio's serenity is going to be short lived, as from the bushes, came Eva, Zen, and Kane.

"Scoot over losers, we wanna get ourselves fixed up too!" Eva said, but before anyone else could respond she was already inside the spring. Her two groupies also followered her in.

"Why don't you guys use, I don't know, the OTHER spring? The one that's EMPTY?" Kora groaned, getting large amounts of hair out of his eyes.

"This one's closer, and it got some nifty rose petals in it too." Eva replied.

"Don't worry, we won't beat you clowns up right now. Unless you do something incredibly stupid that pisses me off." Kane said with a confident smirk. Zen was mostly silent, in fact Rio wouldn't have noticed he was there if Zen didn't sit almost directly across from him. The springs went from having a relaxed atmosphere to an awkward one, thanks to the new arrivals. No one else besides Rio and Minerva seemed to be bothered by it.

"Hey Rio," Minerva whispered to the jackal, "I'm gettin the feelin that we should leave, like right now."

"Yea, I'd really hate for us to get in _another_ fight with these guys. Also, I think Zen has been staring at me this whole time." Rio whispered back, taking a quick glance at Zen to prove he was right. He didn't even look mad, but he still emitted that seriousness he always did. After a long moment of silence, Minerva finally decided to get out of here.

"Well I'm all rested up, I say we get outta here boys." She said, quickly dragging Kora and Rio our the water. She noticed that the fox was a bit heavy to drag than normal, he also felt way less soft. She turned to see what was up, and realized she had accidentally grabbed Zen instead of Kora. Rio and Minerva both felt an intense feeling of dread, and the feline apologized immediately.

Zen didn't show any reaction to her apology and clenched his fist.

"Who gave you scum the right to pull me out of the water..?" He said through gritted teeth. That bad feeling from earlier hit Rio much harder this time.

"I-it was just an accident Zen, you can-" Rio tried to explain but was cut off by Zen's glare.

"I never said you could speak, trash!" Zen's aura started to flare up.

"Hey Zen, it was an accident. Why the hell are you so worked up?" Kane asked, the Bisharp turned to glare at the lizard.

"It is none of your business." Zen spat, his aura increased more. The aura seemed very different than when Rio fought him. It had a far more sinister feeling from it. The aura didn't _feel_ like it belonged to Zen, Rio thought. Kora didn't say anything, but his face held an angered expression.

"Calm down metalhead, we're at the springs to relax, not to beat these guys again." Eva commanded, but her words only enraged Zen more.

"Y-Yea, the springs are for relaxin! How about you j-just calm down and-" Minerva was stopped by Zen slamming his foot down infront of her. His aura went from black to black and red, expanding at an alarming rate. Eva, Kane and Kora jumped out of the spring and stood between Zen and Minerva.

"That's enough. You're not one to lose your composure over something like this. Get yourself together!" Eva demanded, having no effect on Zen. The Bisharp glared with furious eyes that had a faint red glow to them. He pushed Eva to the side and raised his palm at Minerva.

"This is for laying your filthy paws upon me!" Right before Zen fired a Dark Pulse, Kora and Kane both pushed Zen back into the spring. The Bisharp fired the pulse into the trees as he fell, just barely missing Kora's face.

"What's with him? He isn't pissed over losing to us is he?" Kora asked, keeping his eyes on the spring.

"He was quiet today, even when I told him off for helping the blue one. Normally he'd say some sly remark in response, but when he kept quiet I thought he was just upset. That's why we're here in the first place." Eva replied, getting herself back up.

"Did... did he seem different to you guys just now? Like how he was covered in black and red instead of just black?" Rio asked.

"Not now, he's coming back up!" Kane shouted as Zen bursted out of the water. The Bisharp was now totally engulfed in black and red.

"What the hell _is_ that!? Is that his _aura?!_ " Eva asked, taken aback at the size of it.

"Wait, you haven't seen that before?" Rio asked, getting ready to fight.

"I'm a Zangoose you idiot, I can't normally see auras! This is a first, and I wish I've never seen it!" Eva said, poorly hiding the fear from her voice.

Zen rushed at Minerva, but got blocked again by Kora and Kane before he could attack her. Instead of being pushed back this time, the Bisharp grabbed the two and threw them behind him. The furious Pokémon prepared to fire another Dark Pulse, the attack charging must faster than before. He fired the attack, but instead of hitting the Meowth, he hit Rio who stepped infront of him. Unlike yesterday, the pulse was much more intense and unbearable.

"Rio!" Kora and Minerva shouted, the Jackal fell to a knee and held his chest. The Bisharp prepared to hit away the Lucario, but was instead thrown by Minerva into the forest.

"Y-you don't scare me ya stick figure with blades!" Minerva shouted. The Bisharp got up much faster than she anticipated, charging at her again.

"Crush Claw!" Eva shouted, slamming her claws into Zen's side. Kora and Kane got back to the others, ready to fight again.

"Rio, are you alright?" Minerva asked, putting her paw on Rio's shoulder. The Outlander's aura started to emanate from his body as he got back up.

"Yea, I'm good. Can't say the same for him when this is over." Rio replied, standing to his feet besides Kora.

" **RAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!** " Zen shouted, firing a Dark Pulse at everyone.

"Have a taste of your own medicine you prick!" Kora and Kane shouted, firing their own Dark Pulse to counterattack. The three attacks exploded on impact, sending dust and smoke everywhere. Rio and the others stood with their backs to each other, preparing for an attack from any direction. Rio felt Zen's aura moving through the smoke.

"He's coming to you Kora!" Rio shouted, and surely enough, Zen had charged right for Kora. The fox grabbed the Bisharp's arms and gripped them tightly.

"Have a nice flight!" He said, spinning Zen around quickly and throwing him into a tree. The enraged Pokémon almost broke the tree trunk upon impact. Despite that, Zen recovered quickly and charged again toward the group. As he approached he fired several smaller Dark Pulses at the group. Instead of countering the attack, each Pokémon jumped in a different direction, dodging the attacks. The pulses sent more dust and dirt into the air, temporarily isolating everyone from each other. Rio sensed Zen moving towards him now.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that to get me!" Rio shouted, evading the Bisharp's Slash. Before Zen could attack again, Rio slammed his palm into the side of the Bisharp's head. The Outlander jumped away from Zen, but even with taking a blow to the head, Zen still managed to jump after Rio and fired another Dark Pulse at him. Rio was barely able to block the attack, being sent back into the hot spring from the force of impact. Eva and Kora both dashed at Zen, trying to hit him from both sides, but the Bisharp blocked both of their attacks. Zen slammed the two together and threw them aside.

"High Jump Kick!" Kane shouted, attacking Zen from behind. The hit sent the raging Bisharp a few feet forward, but it seemed to just anger him more. Zen quickly turned and slammed Kane with a Dark Pulse, pushing the lizard into the forest. Kora held up both his paws to Zen, a red flame appeared in front of him.

"Take this! Incinerate!" A blast of hot flames shot from Kora's paws, hitting their mark on Zen. Thankfully, the flames were enough to visibly damage him. Before Zen could recover, Minerva and Eva both slashed at his back. The Bisharp fell to a knee. Rio finally got out of the water and Kane returned from the forest. The two quickly acted to attack Zen before he got back up.

"Hyahh!" Kane shouted, karate chopping Zen in the back. Rio ran up to Zen as fast as he could and slammed his fist into the back of the Bisharp's head, making it crash into the ground. Everyone was panting and tired, hoping Zen wouldn't get back up again. Fortunately for them, Zen's aura dissipated, a good indicator that he fainted.

"What, the _hell_ , got into him?" Rio asked Eva, still worked up from the fight.

"How should I know? He's been pretty much normal until he fought you, Outlander!" Eva shouted, "And you're welcome by the way for helping save your sorry butt!"

"I hope you're not putting the blame on _me._ I barely even know how to fight besides punches and kicks!" Rio shouted back.

"Thank you, Eva..." Minerva said, making Rio and Eva stop arguing. "If you and Kane didn't step in, I'd probably be dead." Eva was pleasantly surprised with Minerva's thanks.

"Um, you're welcome." The Zangoose said, calming down. "I, uh, didn't want Zen fighting you guys while you, recovered and all that."

"..." Kora and Kane were both in awe of the politeness of Eva and Minerva. Rio eventually calmed himself back down, his body feeling a bit lighter now. He looked down at Zen who hadn't moved since he was knocked out, and decided to pick him up. Zen was surprisingly heavy, but it wasn't too much for Rio to handle. The Jackal turned Zen over and was relieved that he was still breathing. Rio propped Zen up on one of the nearby trees, having him sit with his back against it.

"Are we going to do anything with him? We aren't just gonna leave him here, right?" Rio asked.

"If he's still alive than we can bring him over it my place to have Mom look at him. The fact that we saw his aura doesn't bode well." Kora stated, getting back into the spring, "We _could_ try and recover a bit before that though."

The group rested for a few more minutes before they left the springs while carrying the unconscious Zen. No one could figure out why Zen blew up because of a small accident, even if he was a relentless fighter he was probably the most level headed Pokémon among them.

"Did Zen ever act like that before?" Rio asked Eva.

"I thought I already said that he was fine before you fought him. Did you forget that already?" Eva replied, a small amount of annoyance in her voice.

"Sorry, I guess I did." The group walked in an awkward silence all the way to Kora's house. Once they were inside, the group placed Zen down on one of the rugs and Kora went to look for Diana. Kai and Mia were already gone and the room was cold. Still remaining silent, everyone else just sat around waiting on Kora. Thankfully the fox arrived with his mother after a minute or two.

"Good morning everyone," Diana said, smiling at everyone, "Kora told me that one of your friends went mad at the springs. Is that right?" She asked Eva and Kane.

"Yea! He usually keeps his cool about little accidents, but today he completely overreacted!" Kane answered.

"He went completely nuts! And we were actually able to see his aura, too!" Eva added. That last part piqued Diana's interest.

"You was his, aura?" Diana asked, a bit of worry in her voice. "What color was it, if I may ask?"

"It was red and black. And it felt, I don't know to really describe it, but to me it didn't feel like his." Rio said. "When I fought him yesterday, it was just black and it felt as serious as he was." Diana didn't like his Rio described Zen's aura.

"Eva, did you notice anything weird about Zen? Before you went to the springs?" Diana asked, her tone sounding it tad worried.

"When I found him this morning, he didn't really react when I spoke to him. It was like he was ignoring me, but I didn't think too much of it. He doesn't like to lose fights, so when he does he stays upset for a while." Eva said.

"But he didn't lose! He just left," Rio butted in, "The entire fight was in his favor, but after my aura activated and I started fighting back, he left into the forest."

"Did you see him at all after the fight yesterday?" Diana asked. Both Eva and Kane shook their heads no.

"Mom, is something wrong? You're making it sound like something happened to him yesterday." Kora asked. Diana shook her head and smiled back at her son.

"No, no I'm just thinking too much into it." She said, although Kora didn't completely believe her. Diana grabbed a few assorted berries and put them in the pot. She crushed them up and put the contents into a cup.

"I'll watch Zen for now. You kids can go and enjoy the rest of your day. When he's all fixed up I'll send him home." Diana reassured everyone. The others decided to leave, but Rio decided to stay a bit longer.

"You guys can go ahead, I wanted to ask Miss Diana a few things." Rio said, waving goodbye to the others as they left. After a moment or two, Rio turned to Diana and spoke.

"What do you think happened to Zen. It felt like you tried to avoid saying something earlier when Kora asked." Diana was surprised at how well Rio read her.

"Remarkable. You can already read someone's aura like it was a book. You're growing into your new body quite fast." Diana said with a small chuckle.

"You're trying to avoid my question. If it's something you wanted to hide then I should probably know about it." Rio said firmly. Diana sighed.

"I'm hoping that I'm wrong, but from the way you describe his aura, as if it wasn't his own, it doesn't seem to be any other option. I think that Zen might have encountered someone I fought long ago." Diana said, putting a blanket over the Bisharp.

"Who was it?" Rio questioned.

"He was an Alakazam named Maxwell. He was a genius who experimented with ancient technology and became madly obsessed with it. Eventually he started experimenting with combining and warping other Pokémon together. At the time that I fought him, however, he was old and used machines to fight for him. When me and my team beat him, he told me he wasn't finished and that he could never be finished. I didn't know what he meant, and if Zen _did_ meet Maxwell yesterday, then I guess he meant he would come back." Diana explained.

"What do you mean he combined and warped Pokémon?" Rio asked, making Diana shiver.

"I mean exactly that. He would literally combine two Pokémon and run experiments on them. I... I don't want to say anymore than that." Diana said, holding her paws together. "How about you go and catch up to Kora and the others? I'm sure they aren't going to wait much longer." Rio picked up on the hint to leave, and said goodbye as he did. The Lucario hoped he didn't force Diana to remember anything too awful, but the way she put it, he definitely did. Rio assumed that everyone went to the shopping square and walked down the path leading to it. With such a rocky start to the day, Rio wondered what else could happen before it ended.

/End Of Chapter

Fusion: Yea, I hope this chapter doesn't feel too rushed. I had quite a busy Thanksgiving and a bit more personal biz I wouldn't wanna bore you guys with. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter out on Saturday next time, and I'm sorry about how short the chapter is this time. Anyway,

See you guys and gals in the next chapter!


	5. Their Training Begins!

Fusion: Again I feel I should apologize for the shortness of the last chapter, and I'm also hoping it doesn't feel too rushed. Surely, I can make up for it with this chapter. So without further ado,

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or and other franchises referenced in this story._

/ _Inside Kora's House/_

Diana sat patiently as she boiled the berries she mashed before Rio and the others left. She tried to shake the thoughts of the past away, hoping to never have to think back to Maxwell or his experiments again. Thankfully, Zen waking up got her attention away from those horrid thoughts.

"Where... where am I?" Zen said weakly, holding his side. "And why does my side burn so much?"

"You got in a fight with Eva, Kane, Kora, Rio and Minerva. Here, drink this." Diana replied, handing him a bowl of the boiled berries to drink.

"This is to help you recover a bit, and this," Diana grabbed the cup she set aside earlier and spread the some of the contents evenly on her paws, "should help with your burn." She lightly rubbed the the mashed berries on Zen's side, causing him to tense up a bit. After a moment, however, the pain faded away and he let go of his tension.

"They also got your back pretty good. Can you turn around for me?" Diana politely asked. Zen nodded and turned his back to her. Diana poured the rest of the cup on his back and grabbed some bandage wrap from her mane, wrapping it around his his back and chest a few times.

"Did they tell you what happened? I can't seem to recall." Zen asked, feeling much better already.

"They said that Minerva accidentally pulled you out of the hot spring, and after that you went beserk and tried to hurt her." Diana answered, putting out the fire from the below the pot. "I actually wanted to ask you about what happened after your fight with Rio yesterday."

Zen paused for a moment to try and remember what happened yesterday. He sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, all I can remember is that I went into the forest and came across an odd berry plant. I thought it was a wild Oran berry plant and ate one of the fruit. Anything after that, I can't remember."

"Can you remember remember what happened directly after you ate the fruit?" Diana asked, holding Zen's forearms. The Bisharp again tried to remember anything he could.

"I... I felt dizzy, and I think I heard someone speaking, but I can't remember what they said." Diana let out a relieved sigh.

"Atleast it wasn't as I had thought. Zen, you have to be more careful than that. Wild berries? I thought you were more careful about these kind of things." Diana said, giving Zen a smile. The Bisharp looked to the side.

"Well, the new Outlander hit harder than I expected. If I hadn't underestimated him I wouldn't have needed a berry of any sort." Zen frowned and closed his eyes. "He can grow much stronger than he his now, and that worries me. The only powerful Outlander I know is you, and I believe Rio can get even more powerful than you. If I'm right, then incredibly destructive is coming."

"Yes, I know. But that's why you're here right? You're an exceptionally strong Pokémon, and both Kora and Rio need you. That _is_ why you came here, right?" Diana asked.

"Yes, but I wasn't aware of another Outlander arriving. However, neither of them have truly earned my respect, not yet atleast." Zen stated, crossing his arms. Diana rolled her eyes.

"How is it that you remain so stuck up all the time? I find it hard to believe that you can actually _act_ your age. Barely a year older than Kora and you act like a wise old man!" Diana giggled at her own remark, not getting the same reaction from Zen.

"Regardless of how strong they _can_ be, it's a waste if they can't prove they deserve that strength." Zen said coldly. Diana raised an eyebrow and gave a smug grin.

"Alright then, how do you think they can prove themselves to you?" Diana asked with a sarcastic tone.

"...I can't say how just yet, but if I give them ti-" Zen was interrupted by a loud, "HAH! I knew it!" from Diana.

"You don't even know HOW they can prove themselves worthy! You act just like... just like..." A sudden rush of sadness came upon Diana, making her choke on her words. Zen put his hand on Diana's shoulder. The Outlander regretted what she had said, bringing up memories she would rather keep buried. She hugged Zen tightly and held back her sadness.

"I-I'm sorry, Zen. I just, I can't bring him up without this happening." She sniffled. Zen hugged her back.

"It's alright... I miss him too..." Zen said, trying to comfort Diana. After a few minutes, Diana let go and exhaled deeply. She gave Zen a sweet smile, and Zen gave one back.

"I believe it's about time that I left," Zen said, getting to his feet and preparing to leave. He finished the last of the boiled berries in his bowl and turned to leave, "and thank you, Diana." He said, exiting the house. Diana waved goodbye.

"..." Diana laid down on her rug, trying to keep her attention on anything instead of her own past. Eventually, she went back to sleep.

/ _The Shopping Square, Prior To Zen Waking/_

Rio caught up to Kora and Minerva, not entirely surprised to see that Eva and Kane had already left. It might've just been Rio, but the two didn't seem too happy.

"What's up guys? What happened to Eva and Kane?" Rio asked, Kora turned to respond but Minerva did before he could.

"They left. Said they didn't need our help anymore." Minerva seemed more upset than Kora was, a lot more upset.

"Kane also said some, less than kind words before they left." Kora said, nodding his head lightly to Minerva to imply that said words were directed towards her. Rio crossed his arms and frowned.

"I thought they would have been thankful that we helped their friend! Tsk." Rio exclaimed, kicking some dirt.

"I could buy us some desserts to help lighten the mood. Oh yea, then after that we could see if Jax can help us train to join the guild!" Kora said, plastering a big 'ol grin on his face. His attempts at cheering up his friends only really cheered up Rio, Minerva just sighed. The three made their way to the bakery and were stopped by Kai and Mia exiting it. They both were carrying little baggies that had some pastries inside.

"Oh hey bro! Where've you guys been? Did ya get in another fight?" Kai asked, hopping in place. Kora chuckled a bit and put his paws on Kai and Mia's heads.

"Actually, we did. If you make it back home quickly, you might be able to ask _him_ the hundreds of questions that don't at all relate to each other." Kora said sarcastically. His remark, however, went far above Kai's head.

"Really?! Sweet!!" Kai shouted before bolting up the forest path, dropping his bag behind him. Mia sighed and followed behind the speeding Zorua and grabbing his bag in her mouth. Kora felt kinda bad to unleash his brother on an injured Zen, but he didn't think his incessant blabbering would raise anyone's spirits.

The fox and his friends entered the Bakery and were greeted by brand new scents and pastries to look at. This time there wasn't a line, probably because of how early it was. Despite that, Clara was still standing behind the counter with a welcoming smile.

"Ah, good morning Kora, Rio, and Minerva," Clara saw that Minerva was upset, her smiling being change to a face of worry, "oh, what happened to you dear? Kora didn't go too far with one of his jokes again, did he?" The Zoroark felt instantly hurt at being accused of hurting Minerva's feeling. Minerva shook her head no.

"No, it wasn't the twerp this time. It was some things that Kane said."

"I'm sorry dear. If I see him walk in here, I'll make him apologize to you immediately. For now though, how about I let you three try a new pie, free of charge?" Clara's offer made Minerva's face light up a bit, Rio lit up even more, Kora even stopped his sulking and forgot he was the first Pokémon thought to have hurt his friend.

"I-we couldn't. An entire pie?" Minerva stuttered. Clara smiled and nodded.

"Don't worry about it, you'd actually be a bigger help to us this way. You see, we found some strange berries in the back of our yard this morning. They were almost entirely black, and the inside was a dark red." As Clara explained, Benny brought in a couple of the berries she was talking about. They looked like black Oran berries. "I ate a few this morning, I swear I've never had a berry that was sweet, sour, bitter and tangy all at once. We wanted to start selling them here in pastries and the like, but we didn't want to put such a bizzare berry out for everyone just yet."

"So, we're gonna be testing this dark berry pie thing?" Rio asked, holding one of the dark berries in his paw. Clara nodded.

"I hope it's alright with you three. You can tell me if you think it should be sold here after you've tried it." Clara said, slicing the pie for her three taste testers. Before he took his slice of the pie, Rio tried the berry by itself. He immediately felt the same flavor sensation that Clara described, in fact he thought he tasted something else in the berry that he just couldn't describe. He loved every last bite of the fruit. The three took their slices of pie, thanked Clara and Benny, and went outside to taste their food.

The pie's filling had the dark red color of the inside of the berry, and the crust was tinted red to compliment the filling. The scent it gave off wasn't like anything either of the three had smelled before, it was sweet and tangy, but there was definitely something else to it. Rio, having already tried the fruit, was excited to taste the pie, Minerva didn't know what to expect but she still was looking forward to taste testing a brand new pie, and Kora surprisingly was kinda iffy on trying out the pie.

"It definitely doesn't look like any pie I've seen before." Kora said, picking up a decent sized piece of the pie slice.

"Is that supposed ta be a problem, twerp? It's a _free_ pie!" Minerva stated, now in a much better mood.

"You guys should've tried the berry first. It was exactly like Miss Clara said!" Rio said, picking his lips. The three each tried a piece of the pie at the same time. The filling melted in your mouth, and the flaky crust would blend perfectly with it as you ate. Clara and Benny were somehow able to amplify the different flavors. Even Kora, as reluctant as he was to try it, admitted that the pie tasted amazing. He couldn't figure out why he was so nervous about trying it, but he was glad he did. The three went back into the Bakery to give their positive reviews.

"Really? It was even better than Clara described?" Benny said, pleasantly surprised at the three Pokémon's praise.

"Why would I lie about one of your pies? It was amazing!" Kora said, Minerva and Rio nodding their heads in agreement.

"Oh please, you three spoil me! I'll go tell Clara how much you liked it. Maybe we could whip up a batch of puffins with that berry later." Benny said with a wink before heading back to the kitchen.

"Alright, now we're off to Jax's gym for training!" The Zoroark stated, turning on his heel and practically jumped outside.

"Wait up, twerp!" Minerva shouted, sprinting behind Kora and Rio behind her.

/ _Jax's Gym/_

When Rio and Minerva arrived at the gym tent, Kora was already there waiting for them.

"What took you guys so long?" He said with a smug grin.

"You're tha one that ran out the Bakery like a mad 'mon! Cut us some slack!" Minerva exclaimed, expressing a good bit of anger. Before they escalated any further, Nate, Zeke and Jax approached the three.

"If you two are gonna fight, I could be the referee." Jax said, putting his fists on his waist. Nate and Zeke sighed.

"Yeah, maybe for the first few minutes. Then you'll say, 'seeing you two punch each other got me in the mode for battle too!' and try to join in." Zeke groaned. The thought of having to fight Jax thankfully stopped Minerva and Kora before anything could have happened. Jax looked at Rio and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey Rio, have you had your first fight yet? I don't know what it is, but I think you've already gotten stronger since yesterday." Jax asked. Rio smirked and crossed his arms proudly.

"Actually yeah. I fought Zen yesterday and then we fought him again today." He said with a proud grin.

"He didn't come close to winnin that first fight from the sound of it though," Minerva said, "apparently that stuck-up Bisharp just up and left the fight."

"And in that second fight with Zen, all of us had to fight him and Rio took the finishing blow!" Kora added. Rio's grin turned into a much less proud frown.

"The point is, I still got in a couple fights and came back stronger!" The Outlander said, clearing his throat and again having a proud grin. Jax smiled and put up the same punching bag from before.

"Well Mister Fighting Master, why don't you try punching this bag again, see how much you improved." Jax challenged, sitting to the side with Nate and Zeke with Kora and Minerva joining them as well. Rio walked up to the punching bag and inhaled. For a moment, his aura started to glow around him, and he slammed his palm into the sleeping bag with a loud slap! The bag went back a few feet, but even more impressive was the tear that Rio caused when he hit it. It wasn't destroyed, but it was considerably damaged. Jax was much more impressed than everyone else, giving Rio a strong pat on the back, that almost knocked the wind out of him, and grinned from ear to ear.

"It's only been a day and you tore a whole in the punching bag! You'll be punchin with the best of them in no time flat, Rio!" Jax said proudly. Rio practically radiated joy at being complimented, unknowingly wagging his tail. Kora also congratulated Rio and started talking to Jax.

"We actually wanted to ask if you could train all of us. We were planning on joining the guild and thought we just get stronger before then." Kora asked. Jax felt honored that they came to him for training.

"You two really wanna train under me, huh?"

"Actually, it's three. I'm not here just to watch!" Minerva said, surprising Jax, Nate and Zeke.

"Huh, I didn't figure you as the type to train. But seein how you're the one that keeps beatin up Kora, I'll gladly help train you too." Jax said. Kora froze.

"M-Maybe you could just, not teach her anything that could _really_ hurt me, right?" He stammered. Jax gave a hardy laugh and put his hand on Kora's shoulder.

"No promises little buddy." The Zoroark froze again, this time in fear of ever poking fun at his feline friend after training is over. Jax laughed again and walked infront of all three of his new trainees.

"Alright, alright. I say we start you three off lightly. Before we start you out on the hardest training you have ever received, you three will have to fight us three." Jax stated, with Nate and Zeke both giving him sideways glances.

"Hey, don't drag us into your training business! No offense, but they're _your_ students!" Nate exclaimed.

"Oh come on Gatr Boy! I only have two pairs of arms, there's only so much I can do. Besides, it's not like you have anything goin on for the next week. Training these three could be fun!" Jax said, putting an arm around Nate and Zeke's shoulders.

"So the person you spar against will be your first teacher for the week. We'll have three weeks of training so you can get experience from all of us. And the only way to pick the order is with some good old fashioned Rock Paper Scissors!"

"Ok, so that plan sounds perfect, but there's only one problem," Kora said, then he, Minerva and Rio raised their paws, "I'm the only one who can shoot scissors, or rock." Everyone paused for a minite before Jax came up with another great idea.

"How about... oh! What if you guys just shouted out what you were throwing out!" He said, snapping his fingers. The three trainees shrugged, it could be better, but it's better than nothing. Jax grinned triumphantly why his two co-trainers sighed at their friend.

"Alright, so when a trainer and a trainee throw out the same thing that no other trainer or trainee throws out, they get paired together for the week!" Jax said, preparing one of his four arms to throw out something. The other five also got themselves ready.

"3..." Each Pokémon looked at each other.

"2..." Kora, Rio, and Minerva started breathing faster with anticipation.

"1..!" Each pokemon raised a hand into the air, even though those didn't really matter for this.

"Rock!" Kora and Jax shouted at the same time.

"Paper!" The other four shouted all at once. Jax and Kora stepped out, whispering something to each other while the remaining four got ready to throw again.

"3..." The trainees looked between each other, thinking of what to throw.

"2..." The trainers both think of what kind of pies would be sold today at the bakery.

"1..!" Jax and Kora are both filled to the brim with anticipation.

"Scissors!" Minerva and Nate shout out.

"Rock!" Rio and Zeke blurt out as the same time. From the sidelines, Jax pounds a fist into the ground and Kora cheers.

"I was right! I knew it!" The fox exclaimed joyfully, catching everyone's attention. "You're buying me a pie when we're done today!"

"Wow, they're basically brothers." Rio said.

"They both act pretty much the same. Jax was Kora's role model since he was a Zorua." Minerva replied.

"He pretty much copied Jax's whole persona, and added in some bad jokes to make it his." Nate said, Zeke nodded.

"Maybe having them be together for an entire week isn't such a good idea?" Zeke questioned, imagining that the two would goof off during their time together. The four were interrupted by Jax and Kora butting in on their conversation.

"If you four are done with the chatting," Kora started to say before being pushed aside by Jax.

"Then we got some fights to start!" Jax finished, getting pushed back harder by Kora. They started to push each other harder and harder until Minerva and Nate stepped between them.

"If the two of ya are gonna keep actin like kids, then you'll have ta fight last!" They both shouted pointing at either of their goofball friends faces. Jax immediately shut up and sat to the side, and Kora backed away from Minerva. Rio and Zeke chuckled a bit to themselves.

"Alright, so how do we decide who fights first?" Zeke asked, crossing his arms.

"Seein how the twerp and chump combo are goin last, why don't me an Nate go second an you two go first." Minerva suggested. The others agreed to that order, some more than others, and the six of them went outside the back of the tent.

 _/Behind the Gym Tent/_

As expected, behind the tent was a large open area that ended with the forest, giving the Pokémon a good hundred feet to spar in. In the middle of the field was a sand covered battle ground that has seen many sparring matches in its day.

"Man, I've been _aching_ for a good fight! I'm also lookin forward to how strong you got since we last fought, Kora." Jax exclaimed, stretching each of his arms and legs. Kora did the same stretches, probably without realizing he was mimicking his Machamp friend. Rio and Zeke entered the sand area at either end of it.

"Ok Rio, this is gonna be a quick sparring match alright? We'll go until one of us calls it quits. What do you say?" Zeke asked, cracking his knuckles and getting into a fighting pose.

"Sounds good to me!" Rio agreed with a smug grin, getting into his stance and his aura enveloped his body, "Just don't expect this to be easy." The Outlander's aura was slightly bigger than normal, and it had a feeling of excitement instead of danger it had for his previous two fights. Zeke smirked in response to Rio's confidence.

"Don't get cocky, kid. You've _only_ been in two fights so far. I wouldn't get ahead of myself if I were you." Zeke replied, a fiery aura covering his body. Rio could feel the heat and excitement from across the field, and this got him even more excited. Jax stood in the middle of the area, his hands on his waist.

"The first fight is between the Rookie Fighter, Rio, and his opponent, the Flaming Fist, Zeke!" The Machamp stated before walking off the field and sitting down on the sidelines. "This fight will end when either of them gives up, or until I say it's over!" No one could deny the building anticipation they had, especially not Kora and Jax.

"Let the fight... Begin!" Jax shouted.

Zeke rushes towards Rio with surprising speed, almost catching Rio off guard. The Blaziken led with a swift punch to the side, landing a direct hit. Rio attempted to retaliate with a kick, but Zeke was able to easily dodge the attack. The Outlander tried again to hit the Blaziken but his attacks just weren't fast enough.

"Gee, you must've been fighting someone when they were asleep with this speed." Zeke mocked, not even breaking a sweat. Rio didn't respond, again going for another punch. Zeke again dodged the attack, dodging to the left, and Rio grinned. The Lucario quickly switch momentum from his left hand to his right, and finally landing a solid blow to Zeke. Once he finally caught the Blaziken, Rio was able to get in two more hits before Zeke jumped away.

"Not bad, rookie." Zeke said, his fiery aura growing even more. Rio's aura also flared up with excitement.

"You can't win if all you do is dodge!" Rio stated, getting back into his stance.

"And you can't win if all you do is basic kicks and punches." Zeke retorted, making Rio cock his head a bit.

"Allow me to demonstrate!" Zeke again rushed in, Rio anticipating another punch to his left side. Instead, Zeke quickly went Rio's right.

"Fire Punch!" Zeke shouted, slamming a flaming fist into into Rio's side and sending the Lucario several feet away. Rio landed into the sand with a loud thud, rolling back to his feet. He held his side, it felt like it was burning when Zeke hit, but gladly there wasn't any actual burns.

"You'll take a whole lot more damage from my fire attacks, you better not let that hit you again." Zeke advised, getting ready to charge Rio again. The Outlander's aura wavered for a second, but spiked again a moment later. Rio charged Zeke as fast as he could, readying his palm. As Rio approached and attempted to slam his palm into Zeke, the Blaziken jumped to the side, preparing another Fire Punch. Rio put his palm to the ground, using the momentum to push himself towards Zeke before the Blaze Pokemon could attack and slammed his shoulder into Zeke's chest. They both recovered before hitting the ground, Zeke throughly impressed by Rio's tactics.

"You seem to be a natural at throwing yourself at your enemy. There's only so much that can do in a fight, however." Zeke stated, getting into a sturdier stance.

"I suggest you dodge this one! Flamethrower!!" Zeke warned, tilting his head back and throwing it foward, a long beam of fire launching from his mouth. Rio didn't think he could actually dodge, actually his body wasn't moving. He put up both his arms to guard the blast, bracing himself for impact. The flamethrower hit Rio directly, causing an explosion on impact. Jax shot up to his feet, ready to end the match, but Kora stopped him.

"Look, it... it missed." The fox stammered, pointing at Rio. Somehow, the Outlander looked unscathed from the flamethrower. The band on his arm was now arm-length and a bright red and orange glow came from it. Everyone, especially Rio, were surprised.

"Whoa." The Outlander said, pumping his arm. He felt like he was wrapped in warmth, with the most heat coming from his arm band. Rio got back into stance, this one somewhat resembling Zeke's, and grinned.

"I don't know what happened, but I feel more fired up than before!" Rio exclaimed, charging again at Zeke. The Lucario was much faster now, however not nearly as fast as Zeke. Rio went for a right feint, making Zeke dodge to the left. The Outlander quickly caught Zeke with his left fist, slamming it into the Blaze Pokémon's stomach. Although nowhere near as powerful as his Fire Punch, Zeke noticed a noticeable difference in power from earlier. Zeke was able to jump back before Rio could attack again.

"That's a clever trick you hid up your sleeve, Rio. Color me impressed." Zeke said, pleasing Rio with his compliments.

"I don't think it counts as 'hidden up my sleeve' if I didn't know I could do it." Rio replied. Zeke chuckled in response.

"So this _is_ completely new to you. Let's see if you can figure out how to properly use it then!" The Blaziken readied another Flamethrower. This time the attack was much larger than the first, and it was coming at Rio much faster than before! Instinctively, Rio put both his paws up to catch the attack. The blast hit Rio hard, back fortunately for him, he was actually able to hold it for a moment. The Outlander quickly pushed the Flamethrower to the side. The attack hit some trees, blowing up spectacularly. It took a lot of effort just to catch and move it, more than Rio was expecting. The Lucario fell to a knee, breathing heavily, the orange glow and warmth from his arm band faded.

"That was, remarkable, Rio. I think this is the end of our match, however. You don't look too hot." Zeke stated, walking over to Rio. If Rio hadn't over exerted himself, his tail would definitely be wagging.

"*pant* Yeah, I think moving that flamethrower was *pant* more than I bargained for." Rio tried to get himself up, but when Zeke offered some assistance, he gladly accepted it. The two walked over to where the others were spectating.

"Guess we found out what your arm thingy does now." Kora said, playfully punching Rio's shoulder.

"Yeah, it gets bigger and makes me throw fire. I'd say that's pretty helpful if I play catch with an open flame." Rio joked, but since he was still so exhausted, he let out a small chuckle after his joke. Jax gave Rio a big smile and patted his back, almost knocking the Outlander over.

"You did great for only your third fight, Rookie Fighter. I can't wait to test your abilities myself. But next up is Minerva and Nate." Jax stated. The feline and the gator made their way to the sanded area and Jax got ready to start the match.

"We got the same rules as Zeke an Rio right?" Minerva asked, her arms crossed. Nate nodded, his arms also crossed.

"I'm not gonna as easy on ya like Zeke did to Rio, so feel free to call it quits whenever." Nate said, making Minerva a bit angry.

"I hope you're not underestimating me. I'd hate to do somethin you'll regret, 'Sensei'." Minerva mocked, getting a similarly angry reaction from Nate. Jax quickly interrupted the two before they got anymore upset.

"Alright, the second match is the Explosive Minerva against the Powerhouse, Nate. Begin!"

Nate got on all fours and charged Minerva with incredible speed, much faster than Zeke was. The Meowth only had a few moments to react. Right before Nate was able to attack, Minerva quickly jumped to the side. The Feraligatr couldn't slow down fast as he could accelerate, skidding atleast ten feet before stopping to turn again. An idea popped into Minerva's head.

"If all ya can do is shoot off in one direction, I'm gonna have me an easy win!" Minerva mocked, giving the water type a cocky grin. As the feline and hoped, Nate got much more furious and charged at her again. This time, instead of jumping to the side, Minerva stepped to the side and slashed at Nate as he ran past her, making him fall over and skid across the field.

"Ya can't even stop ya self, can ya?" Minerva mocked again, riling up the alligator once again.

"Mocking your mentor is a good way to get yourself hurt, Minnie." Nate said, getting ready to pounce once more. Minerva got a bit angry at him calling her Minnie, her smug grin exchanged for an angry frown.

"All right gator-breath, come at me then!" She shouted. Nate sprinted towards Minerva at a much more controllable speed than before, being able to turn and catch her whenever she dodged. To Kora and Jax's surprise, Minerva is just fast enough evade Nate's attacks but she can't do any damage as a result. Whenever Nate got in close, Minerva could only dodge to keep ahead of him.

"What's wrong girly? What happened to all that trash talk from earlier? Gator gotcha tongue?" Nate mocked, missing another slash at Minerva. The feline's anger grew, making her misstep for just a moment and causing her to lose most of her momentum.

"Ice Punch!" The Feraligtr quickly punched Minerva with an ice covered fistbefore she could recover her lost speed, making the feline hit the ground hard. The spectators stood still, the four of them thinking that the match might already be over. Nate inhaled and rolled his shoulders back before exhaling and relaxing his body.

"Sorry Minerva, guess I should've held back a bit more. Needless to say, the match is-"

"N-no..." Minerva stood up, her anger subsided and in place of it was determination. "I'm not done yet."

Everyone else was surprised, especially Nate. The water type needed a moment to think of what he should do. He didn't want to force her to stop if she didn't want to, but he also can't tell how badly his Ice Punch hurt her.

"Are you sure?" Nate asked. Minerva responded by getting ready to fight again.

"Alright then. Let's go!" Nate exclaimed. Minerva decided that she should be the one to charge and attack, running up to Nate with her claws bared. Nate punched downwards, an attack Minerva easily evaded, allowing her to slash at his side before jumping back. The feline quickly went in for another attack, again dodging one of Nate's attacks before hitting him in the side. Minerva frowned and stopped.

"It's not fair..." she muttered, clenching her paws, "IT'S NOT FAIR IF YOU LET ME HIT YOU!" She roared. Nate froze. No one said anything for a moment. A dead silence crept over them.

"F-fine! I didn't want to hurt you but I guess I got no choice!" Nate shouted, getting down on all fours. Minerva got ready to dodge and attack, as she was able to do earlier. This time, however, Nate jumped at a speed Minerva couldn't dodge, hitting her with another Ice Punch. The normal type was sent back much further than before, bouncing off the ground onto her stomach. Nate immediately regretted hitting her that hard, running over to check on the feline. Before he reached her, Minerva slowly got herself back to her feet.

"Is that... all you got?" Minerva asked, her look of determination unfazed by the damage she received. Nate decided that she had enough.

"That's it Minerva, the fight is over. If we went on any longer, I mean, there wouldn't be a point to going on any longer." Nate stated. Minerva didn't say a word, instead she walked into the gym and left.

"Minerva? Hey, wait!" Kora tried to get her attention but she walked right past him. "I'm sorry Jax, but I have to see what's up with her. We can fight another time." The Zoroark stated before running after his friend. Rio followed behind him, waving goodbye to Jax and the others.

"I get it." Jax said, waving goodbye to the two as the ran off. Zeke sighed and crossed his arms.

"She must've had a rough day or something," The Blaziken said, looking towards the sky and noticing the sun was lmost directly above them, "Sorry big guy, looks like you gotta wait a bit longer to fight Kora again." Zeke said to Jax, sitting next to him. The Machamp smiled, laying on his back.

"It's alright. Kora isn't going anywhere, I can fight him whenever, where ever." Zeke grinned at his muscle head friend's patience, laying next to him. Nate also joined, laying next to Zeke.

"I knew I should've held back more. I bet she's upset because she lost so bad to me." Nate said, exhaling afterwards.

"I don't think it was just you, Nate. I'm sure it's something else. Whatever it is, she's got Kora to help her with it." Zeke said reassuringly.

"Yeah, you're right." The Feraligtr thanked his friend, relaxing a bit more.

/ _The Bank Tent/_

Kora ran inside the tent with Rio right behind him. The fox was sure this would be the first place she'd go. Sure enough, Minerva was sitting behind the counter, not noticing her two friends running in.

"Minerva, are you ok?" Kora asked, getting her attention. Minerva turned her head.

"I'm fine. Don't ya gotta fight your four-armed friend or somethin?" She asked, still not facing Kora or Rio. The Lucario was picking up on a growing sadness in Minerva. He guessed Kora felt it too, seeing how the fox didn't respond for a moment.

"He can wait. I just want to know what's wrong." Kora said softly, getting a much more negative response from the Meowth.

"Why don't ya give some of that pity to someone else, I don't need it." The feline responded coldly. Even though her tone was angry, Rio just felt more sadness from her.

"You're was about something, right?" Rio said, walking closer to Minerva.

"N-no, I'm not!" Minerva turned her body away from them.

"It's about what Kane said, wasn't it?" Minerva froze, shaking a tiny bit. Kora instantly felt like a massive idiot, he had mostly forgotten about what happened earlier. Before either of the two could speak, Minerva turned and slammed her paws on the counter.

"I just... want to be alone for a bit." She said aloud. Kora and Rio paused for a minute, neither wanting to leave her alone, but she clearly doesn't want them here. Kora sighed and turned to the exit.

"C'mon Rio. Let's give her some space." The fox said, walking outside slowly. Rio looked at Minerva, he couldn't see it on her face, but he could feel she was incredibly sad. The Lucario reluctantly left the tent, joining Kora in the grassy area in the middle of the Square.

"So, what _did_ Kane say to her earlier?" Rio asked Kora, sitting next to him.

"He called her a pathetic weakling, saying that if it weren't for her needing help, he would be enjoying a hot bath with some 'real pokemon'." Kora answered. Rio felt anger and regret in Kora.

"I should have shut him up. I should have beat him into the dirt!" Kora exclaimed, his own aura flaring for a second. Rio thought he saw something odd in the aura, but he couldn't be sure. The Lucario stood up, stretching his arms a bit.

"Maybe we can make it up to her by beating up Kane right now." Rio suggested. Kora, however, shook his head in response.

" _She_ should be the one to beat him. One on one. If we helped her, she would probably feel worse." Kora said. The Outlander nodded and sat back down. Then another idea popped into his head.

"How about we buy her some pie? Maybe they have a new pie we could get her!" Rio exclaimed, making Kora smile.

"Yea, why not?" He said, getting up and walking towards the bakery.

 _/One Pie Buying Later, Back at the Bank/_

The two walked inside the tent with a hot, steaming pie, and placed it on the counter for Minerva. Her eyes lit up just a tiny bit before she looked up at Kora and Rio.

"Why did you-" Minerva was cut off by Kora shaking his head.

"If I was in a slump, you'd buy me a pie too. So, since you're in a slump right now, I thought I should buy you a gift to make you feel better. No jokes included, however." Kora said, pushing the pie closer to Minerva. The feline smiled again and most of her sadness went away. Before she ate any of the pie, Minerva hugged both Kora and Rio.

"Thanks guys. If you want, you can have some of the pie too." Minerva thanked and offered them. The fox and jackal both shook their heads.

"It wouldn't be a gift pie if both of us had some. It's for _you_ , after all." Rio said, giving her a sincere smile. Minerva's sadness went mostly away and the feline gladly accepted the pie, cheerfully eating a slice. Kora and Rio both went back outside and laid down in the sun, both happy that they could cheer up Minerva after she had such a rough day so far. Before long, the two started to doze off in the warm sunlight.

 _/End Of Chapter_ /

Fusion: I know it was a long wait, and the next chapter is gonna be an even _longer_ wait, but I can assure you guys that it will be worth it. I'll be able to refine a bit more of what I got planned, and I'll be back on the normal schedule! I hope this chapter was worth the wait, and I'll you guys in the next chapter.


	6. Alright, Now Training Actually Begins

Fusion: I believe I refined the story a bit more over that small break last week. Let's get this show on a roll!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any referenced media in this story

/ _The Middle of the Square, Ten Minutes Later/_

"Hey! Wake up already! Rio!" Rio woke to Kora's shouting. The fox was standing right next to the jackal, along with Zeke and Jax. The Outlander's body felt a bit lighter than before, and had a warm sensation running through it. Rio stood up and stretched, he thought about sleeping on something softer than the ground sometime soon.

"Are you alright?" Zeke asked, although it was barely noticeable in his voice, Rio felt some worry coming from the Blaziken.

"No, why? Did something happen?" Rio replied.

"Well, a little after we took that quick nap you started mumbling something and woke me up. Before I was able to see what was up, you started glowing! I had no idea what you were saying, but you kept glowing more and more, so I went to get these two from the gym to see if they could do anything. We just got back a few minutes ago." Kora explained, Jax and Zeke both nodded.

"Really? Well I hardly feel any different, just a bit lighter if anything." Rio stated and shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm going to assume you don't believe a thing he said." Zeke said, sighing. Rio shook his head.

"Well, whatever. Makes no sense in dwelling on the matter if you don't feel any different. I guess we should just get on a more important topic." Zeke suggested. Jax agreed and Kora stood next to Rio.

"While the two of you ran after Minerva, us three teachers decided what we were gonna teach you students!" Jax said proudly, a massive grin on his face.

"I've decided that it would be best for me to teach Rio how to use different attacks and to try and help him with that ability he showed off earlier." Zeke said with his arms crossed.

"And _I'll_ be sparring with Kora to help improve his own set of skills. Not saying you aren't a good fighter already, but it doesn't hurt to practice!" Jax stated, his arms on his waist. Both Rio and Kora for a moment thought about what they'll be doing for the next week, before their minds shifted back to Minerva.

"What about Minerva and Nate? What're they gonna do?" The two surprisingly said in unison. Zeke and Jax both looked at each other for a moment before leaning towards Kora and Rio.

"Nate decided he would help increase her strength and speed. He hated how he was able to beat her so easily, despite her trying her hardest." Jax whispered. Kora and Rio both felt a bit bad about that match as well, it wasn't the easiest thing for them to watch.

"Oh, we almost forgot. We decided it would be best if we didn't rotate students every week. As it is now, you three should be able to get plenty strong to get accepted into the guild before the month is over." Zeke said. Kora gave Jax a smug grin and crossed his arms.

"So we get to fight for a whole _month_ without being interrupted?" Kora asked. Jax returned a smug grin and pounded his fists together.

"You know it little buddy!" Jax and Kora gave each other a high five and laughed. Zeke rolled his eyes.

"The main reason we decided to cancel the rotations was because Jax was whining about not getting to fight Kora before he ran off." The Blaziken whispered to Rio, making the Lucario chuckle.

"So, when exactly are we going to start training?" Rio asked, getting a small smirk from Zeke.

"Actually, I wanted to get started as soon as possible. I was thinking we could train on the beach, you know, away from the forest full of Pokémon and flammable trees." The Fire Fighting type stated, getting an excited nod from Rio.

"Then let's go before Mt. Muscle and the Jester start brawling." Zeke joked. Rio and Zeke made their way to the beach, leaving Kora and Jax to do whatever it is they were going to do.

 _/Sunset Beach/_

As the new Mentor and Trainee arrived on the beach, they were surprised to see Zen sitting on the shore. The Bisharp was also surprised to see the pair.

"Zeke, can I ask what you're doing here with the Outlander?" Zen asked, standing before the Blaziken.

"Honestly, you need to lose the uppity attitude you have, Zen. And I'm here to help Rio train." Zeke responded.

"I have an uppity attitude? What about you? Every time something happens you sigh and roll your eyes to the back of your skull or say 'whatever' whenever you get called out on something!" Zen exclaimed, much to Rio's surprise. Zeke sighed and rolled his eyes.

"See!" Zen shouted, making Zeke sweat a bit.

"Whatev-!" Zeke immediately covered his mouth and coughed. "A-anyway, we have important training to do, so I guess we'll just go somewhere else!" As Zeke and Rio turned to walk away, Zen stopped them.

"What exactly are you trying him in?" Zen asked. Somewhere, somehow, Rio felt the smallest amount of worry coming from something.

"Really? I thought you wouldn't care about the affairs of 'Outlanders', because they 'don't deserve to be them in the first place'!" Zeke mocked, not getting a playful response from Zen like he planned.

"Seriously, what is it?" Zen asked. The Blaziken cleared his throat.

"That band on Rio's arm might have the ability to absorb whatever attacks that hits it, and boosts Rio in some way. He was able to throw one of my Flamethrowers to the side, but it took a lot out of him." Zeke explained.

"Really?" Zen quickly glanced at Rio, "Perhaps, I should help as well." Rio was surprised by Zen's sudden change in character. He was even finding it hard to believe how close Zen and Zeke are. Then again, Rio _did_ arrive yesterday, it's probably nothing for him to think over.

"Well thanks for the extra set of hands, Zen. Seems like _someone_ is growing out of their iron-plated shell." Zeke chuckled at his own unfunny joke.

"I guess the first thing we should do is to show you what exactly I was talking about." The Blaziken said, standing a good distance away from Rio. "You ready, Rio?" The Outlander nodded, putting up his guard. Zeke nodded back, getting himself ready to fire a flamethrower. Zen back away from either Pokémon.

After throwing his head forward, Zeke fired a Flamethrower like the one during his sparring match with Rio. The Lucario threw out his right arm as the Flamethrower hit, causing the attack to explode around him. As the fire faded away, Rio was shown totally unscathed and holding up his arm. The band was glowing a bright orange and red, and Rio also gave off a faint glow of the same color.

"That's... well I guess it's impressive." Zen said. Rio groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Fine then! Hey Zeke, fire another Flamethrower, please!" Rio asked, annoyed at the Bisharp's lack of amazement. The Blaziken readied another Flamethrower, still aiming at Rio. This time when the attack hit, Rio put both paws out to hold it. The Lucario was successful at his attempt to stop the attack, and decided on a direction to throw it. With as much strength as he could muster, Rio threw the attack in Zen's direction. The Bisharp quickly realized what was going on, but the attack was moving too fast for him to dodge it unharmed. Instead, Zen slashed upwards, splitting the fire in two.

"That's a bit more impressive, but from the looks of it, you can only do that once every time you gain whatever ability that is." Zen concluded, noticing the glow leave Rio's body as the Outlander fell to his knees. Now Rio was more annoyed at how effortlessly Zen stopped the Flamethrower while it took himself everything he had to just push it away.

"That's what I'm hoping to help him improve. Thing is, I'm not exactly sure how outside of making him repeat this same process over and over." Zeke said, helping Rio up. Zen thought for a moment before coming up with an idea.

"Instead of helping him improve just that one function, why not see what else it can do, or rather, what other type of attacks it can absorb." The Bisharp suggested, a sinister smile slowly crept onto his face. A chill was sent up Rio's spine, and a feeling of misfortune flowed throughout his body.

"Y-you aren't suggesting that I get hit with different things for a month... right?" Rio asked, hoping he doesn't get the answer he thinks he will get. Zen responded by putting up his hand to Rio, and a familiar dark aura encompasses his palm.

"You might want to guard this attack, Outlander." The Bisharp warned moments before firing a Dark Pulse directly at Rio. Now that he can sense aura, Rio was able to describe the shape of the pulse. Zen's Dark Pulse looked like a rounded beam of darkness, and inside it Rio could sense bitterness and anger. Thankfully, the Outlander was able to block the attack with his arm, causing a similar explosion as the Flamethrower did. The band started to turn black and grey, and Rio felt a rush of negativity inside him.

"What the hell Zen! You couldn't give me a minute to recover?!" Rio shouted, much to the other Pokémon's surprise. It could have been just their imagination, but to Zen and Zeke, Rio's fur looked a few shades darker than earlier. Rio also took a more aggressive stance than before, which was a more energetic stance.

"I think you have to calm down a little, you should be proud that you blocked that Pulse despite being tired." Zeke stated, trying to politely ask Rio to 'shut up and be happy'. The Outlander didn't calm down however. Instead of regaining his cool and leveling out, Rio almost immediately lost his temper.

"Calm down?! You can't tell _me_ to calm down after I blocked his Dark Pulse! If I hadn't block that attack I'd probably be dead!" The vastly infuriated Rio turned to Zen. "Were you planning on holding back, because I sure as hell didn't feel any 'holding back', metal head!" Rio exploded, making the good intentioned Blaziken back off.

"Screw the training, I'll 'calm down' by beating this self-entitled prick to a pulp!" The Lucario charged the Bisharp with surprising speed, slamming the Dark-Steel type with his palm before pushing into Zen with maximum force, throwing the Bisharp into the water.

"What the hell has gotten into you?" Zen shouted, failing to get to his feet before being getting attacked by Rio again. The Lucario kicked Zen in the side, knocking the wind out of him. Before Rio could get another hit in, Zeke quickly grabbed the outraging Outlander and held him in a headlock.

"Seriously Rio, don't make me force you to calm down!" Zeke shouted. Unfortunately for the Fire-Fighting type, Rio started to jump and fall backward on top of Zeke.

"You can't force _me_ to do anything!" Rio roared, breaking free of the headlock. As soon as Zen regained his breathe, he readied another Dark Pulse. Rio took notice and ran straight for Zen. The Pulse was fired, however Rio was able to sidestep the attack and thrusted his elbow into Zen's stomach, causing the Bisharp to fall to his knees. The Outlander then clasped both paws together and slammed them into Zen's back. Zeke got back up, quickly gaining Rio's attention.

"Don't say I didn't warn you!" Zeke jumped over Rio, throwing to small fireballs before he landed. The attacks both hit the water around Rio, creating a steam cloud that blind the Outlander for a moment. Seizing this chance, Zeke rushes in and hits Rio several times with Fire Punch before slugging him full force with another one. Rio was sent flying back to shore, some of his fur burnt where he was hit. Without giving Rio a chance to stand back up, Zeke fired a Flamethrower, directly hitting Rio and creating a massive explosion. The Blaziken turned and saw Zen knocked out in the water and ran over to help him out. As the dust cleared, Rio was knocked out cold with blackened fur.

"Can't say I was expecting Rio to flip out and attack us like that," Zeke said to himself, placing Zen on his back near Rio, "Maybe I should get some well deserved sleep too, huh guys?" The bird joked to himself, sitting on the other side of Rio, looking across the open sea. Instead of taking a rest, Zeke tried to piece together what exactly caused Rio to lose it so fast.

/ _Back at the Square, 2 Minutes after Rio and Zeke left/_

"So it's settled then? Loser buys the winner anything they want from the bakery?" Jax asked, a confident grin upon his face.

"Yep. Basically, you're gonna be buying me a whole lotta food!" Kora stated boldly. The two were moments away from letting loose right then, but before they could do anything, Nate and Minerva stopped them.

"Are tha both of ya completely dense or somethin? I know the two of ya aren't plannin on fightin right in the middle of tha Square." Minerva said, staring down the two. Nate nodded his head and crossed his arms.

"You built a gym and you're not even gonna use it to fight your protégée? What a waste." The Feraligtr sighed. The Zoroark and Machamp both apologized before sprinting into the gym, leaving the Meowth and Feraligtr to wonder how they had friends like them.

/ _The Training Field/_

The two stood at opposite sides of the sandy area, both excited for the fight that was about to unfold.

"Alright, we start on the count of three." Jax said, cracking his knuckles.

"3..."

"2..."

"1..."

"WAIT!!!" Kora and Jax were again stopped mere moments before their fight began. This time the culprit was Kai who, somehow, got onto the field without either Kora or Jax noticing.

"Wha- Kai? What're you doing here?" Kora asked, a tad impatient.

"I wanted to train with you guys! Mom said I could so I came down right away!" The young Zorua said excitedly. Kora did his best to not show how utterly uninterested he was to fight with his or against his younger brother, so instead he tried to change the subject.

"What happened to Mia? Last time I saw you two she was chasing after you with your sweets." Kora asked, hoping he could get his brother to run off.

"Oh she went to train with Minerva and that gator guy. I didn't know that she was following me still, so when she showed up I bumped into her and she dropped my baggie thingy. I wonder if I apologized to her. Oh well, that can wait until _after_ the fight, I'm sure she's ok!" Kai said, bouncing up and down.

"Really? I mean, she's your friend and you didn't even say sorry when you bumped into her? What if she's mad with you know?" Kora asked, acting like he was thinking about it with a paw on his chin and the other on his hip. "Maybe you should still say sorry, just incase."

"She wouldn't be _that_ mad with me after I bumped into her, right? Oh gosh, maybe I should go and say sorry really quick. I'll be right back!" Kai ran back into the gym. As the young Pokémon left, Kora let out a big breath and got ready to fight again.

"Now that that's out of the way, let's get this started!" Kora stated, pumping him and Jax up to fight once more. The two Pokémon ran towards each other, ready to hit their opponent.

"Night Slash!" Kora shouted, his claws glowing black.

"Dynamic Punch!" Jax roared, one of his fist glowing red. The two were just a foot away from finally getting to hit each other, when a certain Pokémon got into the midst of it again.

"Lunch? I can totally eat lunch right now! We should do that. Score we start fighting right?" Kai asked, sitting between Kora and Jax. The sudden appearance of Kai led to Kora and Jax crashing into each other, hurting Kora much more than Jax.

" HOW THE HE-" Kora caught himself and coughed, "How did you apologize to Mia so fast, Kai?" The Zoroark asked.

"Wait, was that what I was supposed to do? I thought I was going to get food!" Kai said happily, pulling out three little baggies from behind him. Neither Kora nor Jax knew if those were always there. Kora quietly exhaled and calmed himself down.

"Alright, thanks Kai. Maybe we should eat a little before the fight." Jax said, giving the young fox a smile. Kai gave Kora one bag, another to Jax and the last to himself. Instead each bag was a small slice of the new pie that Kora had tried earlier today. For a moment, Kora was hesitant to eat the slice, much like earlier, however he scarfed down the slice anyway. The pie tasted much stronger than it did in the morning, sending a pleasant chill through Kora's body.

"Did they change the recipe already? This is fantastic!" Kora exclaimed, the other two had their mouths full so all they did was nod and smile. After a moment passed, Kora froze. He felt like he was choking on something, but for some reason he didn't want to cough it out. The fox started to sweat, gripping the dirt.

"Hey Kora, you feelin alright man?" Jax asked after swallowing the last of his slice. The choking sensation Kora had finally subsided, allowing the Zoroark to breathe. Kai somehow didn't notice.

"Yea. I think I ate that pie a little too fast, hehe." Kora joked, reassuring Jax.

"The let's get to it, we got some sparrin to do!" The Machamp said. The two again stood on opposing sides of the sanded area, and even though the two thought they could finally have a go at each other, the feeling of being interrupted again didn't leave their minds. After almost a minute of waiting, Kora and Jax both decided it was time to finally battle. ' _Finally!!'_ The two thought as they ran towards the other, ready to attack.

"Dynamic Punch!" Jax shouted, throwing out a super powered punch towards Kora. The Zoroark stepped to the side, evading the attack easily. Unfortunately, a particular Pokémon decided to also throw out an attack.

"Hyah!" Kai shouted, tackling Kora in the back, making the two fall right in front of Jax.

"Oh, sorry bro!" Kai apologized, still on Kora's back. The Zoroark didn't respond, instead he chose to lay there for a while.

"Uh, maybe we can train tomorrow, Kora..." Jax said, defeated and disappointed. Again, Kora didn't respond. Kai hopped off his brother and started to trot towards the gym, leaving the defeated Jax and Kora in the field.

"I bet Rio and Minerva are still training, lucky punks." Kora muttered into the ground, still refusing to move. Jax didn't want to bother the fox and went inside to punch some punching bags.

 _/Somewhere in the Sunset Forest, After Kora and Jax left Minerva and Nate/_

The gator and feline groaned at the simplicity of their friends, watching as the two ran into the gym to fight. Minerva sighed and looked up to Nate.

"Alright, so how are ya gonna get me strong an fast?" She asked.

"The same way I did, a whole lotta lifting and running. Simple, but effective." Nate replied, heading towards the forest. "C'mon, the sooner we start, the sooner we finish."

After the two entered the forest, Nate decided to break the silence between them.

"Um... when you ran off after we sparred, you weren't mad at me, right?" The Feraligtr asked. Minerva had mostly forgotten about the fight, she was much more invested in the pie Kora and Rio got her.

"Nah, it wasn't entirely your fault. I had a lot on my mind is all." Minerva reassured her scaled friend, making him let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank Arceus, well if you don't mind me asking, why _did_ you run off like that? I'll admit, I don't know that much about you, but I never had you pinged as a sore loser."

Minerva didn't answer right away, making Nate feel like he accidentally said the wrong thing. Before the Feraligtr could apologize, the Meowth stopped him.

"It was somethin Kane said earlier. I'd rather not say what he said out loud, but he said somethings that cut me deep." Minerva clenched her paws as she remembered what she was called, shaking the thought out of her head.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that." Nate apologized, getting a soft smile from Minerva.

"Don't worry about it, I'll beat the snot outta that Pokémon later." The Meowth boldly stated, reassuring Nate.

Nate led Minerva to a clearing with plenty of fallen trees and rocks scattered everywhere. Some of the trees look beat, like someone crushed them with something big and heavy.

"Every now and then, I come here to keep myself busy and break some trees. I've decided that this is the best place to start your training." Nate explained, leading Minerva to a sturdy tree. The feline was expecting her instructor to tell her to chop it down by the end of the day, but his actual order was much more challenging.

"I want you to cut this tree down with one attack." Nate ordered.

"Alright I can do- wait, did you say with one attack?" Minerva asked, giving Nate a puzzled expression. The Feraligtr nodded, stepping to the side.

"Just one attack. And if you can't, or if you refuse to, then you'll have to wear these." Nate pulled out a pair of black bands.

"What's so special about those?" Minerva questioned her teacher, surprised at how her training has turned out only a few minutes into it.

"I'm glad you asked." Nate dropped the two bands, they hit the ground with a loud thud. To say that the feline was surprised would be an understatement.

"WH-WHAT THE?! How much do those things weigh?!?" Minerva shouted, a bit of regret showing on her expression.

"About 70 pounds each. Not too bad right? Surely, you're strong enough already to wear them comfortably for the rest of the month, right?" Nate mocked. However, Minerva was more focused on the weight of the bands more than his small jab at her.

"So, are you gonna cut the tree or wear the bands?" Nate asked. The Meowth couldn't decide which was the lesser of the two evils presented to her. 'There's no way in hell I can cut a tree like this down in one attack, but a whole month with almost 140 extra pounds weighin me down?' She thought.

"From the looks of it, you're probably going to take the bands, no?" The Feraligtr asked, getting a more anxious response from Minerva. The gator quickly wrapped the two bands on both of Minerva's arms, at first it wasn't as bad as she thought, but after a minute or so her arms felt like they were tied to boulders below her.

"Don't worry Minerva, you can take those off when the week is done, I wouldn't make you wear those all month," Nate reassured Minerva, the feline letting out a sigh of relief, "That's because after you get used to those, I'm going to give you heavier bands to wear." The gator stated. Had she been able to, Minerva would have thrown one of the rocks laying around directly into Nate's jaw.

"One more thing, it wouldn't help you if I didn't give you some, exercises, to get you more used to the weights. For now, I'll have you clear out all the rocks and trees from this clearing." Minerva almost fell over, not just from the amount of work Nate is putting on her, but also because she lost her balance for a second.

"When this trainin thing is over, I'm knock you out cold." Minerva declared, again struggling to not topple over by the weight of her arms. Nate grinned.

"That's the whole point of training, now chop chop, these trees aren't gonna clear themselves. And besides, if you can't do this, then how are you gonna beat the snot out of Kane?" Minerva grinned back and nodded, the drive to beat Kane fueling her. The Meowth started to move the tree trunks from the clearing, all while Nate watched from the side.

/ _End Of Chapter/_

Fusion: Honestly, I really needed that week off of writing. If I write too much too often, I think I might start to dislike it again. I know this chapter is short, but I needed it to be. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed, and see you in the next chapter!


	7. Side Effects Include

_Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or another other franchises referenced within this story._

/ _Forest Clearing/_

Rio woke up in the middle of a familiar forest. It must be the same one he arrived in last time, but he didn't feel watched like before. He wasn't alone in his little forest clearing, however. The Lucario was there as well, in the same battered condition as before.

"Mornin' Sleeping Beauty. It's about time you got yourself up." The jackal said, uncrossing his arms. Rio smirked and stood up.

"It's not like I wanted to oversleep, cut me some slack." Rio joked, getting a small grin from his company. Before he could lose the chance, Rio decided to ask the Lucario somethings.

"Before we go do, whatever it was we did last time, I wanted to get your name." Rio asked, the Lucario shook his head.

"Sorry, I was trying to remember it myself. I can't recall it for some reason." Rio exhaled, a little disappointed at this unfortunate event.

"Well I gotta call you something. How about... hmm..." Rio couldn't think of anything, the only memories he has with this Lucario is watching those other two Pokémon through the forest. Not a lot of things to give him ideas.

"Oh! What about Ryan!" The Outlander exclaimed. The Lucario pondered for a moment before agreeing with the name.

"Alright, Ryan, my name's Rio!" Rio said happily, Ryan smiled back.

"With our greetings aside, how about we find that Pokémon now?" Ryan suggested. Rio nodded, and the two walked into the forest. Unlike last time, the forest seemed much thicker. The trees were bigger and their leaves let no light below them. The two walked for a several long minutes before coming upon the clearing with the tree stump in the middle. Much to their dismay, however, they weren't met with the same Pokémon from before. In its place was an odd Silhouette, bouncing in place and a toothy grin where it's face should be.

"Come, come! Masters Rio and —————! It is a pleasure to meet you." The silhouette said, its voice was a weird combination of a child and an adult, changing its pitch every few seconds. The figure bowed, its head dripping onto the floor. Rio and Ryan didn't really know how to take this strange new Pokémon, but atleast it seems friendly.

"My name's Ryan, atleast until I remember what it really is." The Lucario said, the figure rippled for a second before nodding its head.

"Wonderful! Marvelous! Master Ryan it is! What a wonderful new name!" The silhouette bounced up and down. After it calmed down, its real figure became more prominent. Much like the Pokémon before, it looked like multiple Pokémon taking up one place. Instead of it being bipedal, however, it walked on four legs and was much smaller than Rio or Ryan.

"Ah, yes, I was to tell you about this place before I helped you recall your past, Ryan." The figure said. "This place we reside in is called the Land of Rebirth. I am one of many that maintain this place, you can call me Third. I cannot tell you everything about what will happen, but by the end of it, the two of you will leave this place different than when you first arrived! Isn't that fantastic!" Third stated, jumping upon the tree stump.

"Rebirth? Like, being reborn?" Ryan asked, Third nodded.

"This is a very special place, there is no other like it! But the time for questions has passed, I have a job to do, after all." Third jumped unto the forest floor, a large circle appearing below it and the other two as it landed. "You can do whatever you want, as long as you stay within this circle." Third informed the two. The forest around the three spun and stretched, turning into stone and forming a stone hallway around them. Torches attached to the walls, igniting with bright orange and red flames. As Third walked, the circle went with him, so Rio and Ryan made sure to follow closely. Before long, the group arrived at a room with a table in the middle and an Alakazam behind it, and the Lucario from the haunted forest on top of it.

"—————, you reckless fool! Blast it all. If you ruined my work, I'll make you suffer for it!" The Alakazam grumbled, holding his hands above the Lucario's chest with a green light emitting from them.

"Don't worry Doc. I'm fine. And you don't have to worry a single whisker on your face, she doesn't know I'm here. By the way, your bedside manner is atrocious. It's not like I'm injured or anything." The Lucario replied, holding himself still. The Alakazam groaned and put his hands down.

"If it weren't for the fact I need you, I'd have sent you to the bottom of the deepest trench. How do you feel?" The psychic type asked. The Lucario sat up, holding his side for a second.

"Never better. Once we finish your experiment, you should become a real doctor. That healing thing you got really comes in _handy_." The fighting type joked, getting a disappointed sigh from his audience.

"Please, shut up."

"Aww, what's the matter? Maybe you wanna be a gardener instead, after all, you got some pretty green thumbs!" The only laughter coming from the room was the Lucario's.

"Anyway, I need you to try out that technique you picked up on your way here." The Alakazam asked. The Lucario nodded and immediately started glowing a vivid blue aura. He then inhaled as much air as he could.

"Fortify!" The blue Pokémon shouted, and his aura turned smooth and looked almost solid. He was only able to hold that for a few seconds before wincing in pain and letting it go. Holding his chest and gasping, the Lucario laid back down on the table.

"D-damn. Guess you missed a spot, Doc." The fighting type let out a soft chuckle before laying back down. The Alakazam went back to the Lucario's side, focusing the green light from his hands on the fighting type's chest again.

"Incredible, you actually managed to not completely fail for once." The Alakazam said sarcastically. The jackal groaned.

"C'mon Max! I'm actually going out into the world as your active lab rat, fighting for my life with Diana, keeping the fact that I even know you a secret. The least, the absolute _least_ you could do is show some damn gratitude!" The Lucario yelled, surprising the Alakazam. For a moment or two no one said a word.

"I know it's difficult to be in your position, —————, but you aren't showing as much progress as we need. We are running out of time, I fear I only have so many days before I'm killed." Maxwell sighed, putting a hand on the Lucario's shoulder. "I'm sorry about my words."

"No, no, I shouldn't have snapped. *sigh* It's just... what we're doing, I'm afraid of having Diana find out. It's safe to say that she won't be happy I'm off helping you whenever she sleeps. Speaking of which, we might have to wrap this touching moment up, it's almost sunrise." The Lucario hopped off the table, stretching his arms and legs.

"One last thing before I leave... she's started talking with that voice again. If it really is the Pokémon you believe it to be, then we probably won't see each other again peacefully..." The jackal warned.

"It's alright. If I am to fall any day, I'd happily fall to your hands, er, paws." Maxwell nodded, raising both hands and a purple and pink light started glowing around them. "Not that you'd _actually_ be able to kill me, of course."

"We'll see, Max. See ya." The Lucario waved a short goodbye before Maxwell teleported him away in a pink and purple sphere. The Alakazam left the room soon after, unknowingly leaving the three spies to themselves.

"Well, wasn't that riveting? Hopefully, it helps jog your memory, Master Ryan." Third asked, hopping in place excitedly. Ryan was staring at the table before he even noticed anyone said anything.

"Hmm? Oh, yes. Could we, go closer to that table for a second? I wanted to see something." Ryan asked politely. Third happily obliged, moving the three right next to the table. Ryan laid both paws on the lukewarm tabletop, feeling all the little bumps and dips on its surface.

"Max..." he said softly to himself, slowly starting to glow a white light.

"Hey, are you alright?" Rio asked, snapping the Lucario out of whatever trance he was in.

"Yea. I-I'm fine. Let's go back." Ryan responded, getting a confirmative nod from Third. Within a few seconds, the trio were sent back to the Land of Rebirth. The trees had gotten much taller since they left, covering more of the sky. Third stood ontop of the stump, studying the surroundings, when he quickly turned to Rio and Ryan, it's toothy grin faded into a frown.

"You two must leave, immediately. Whatever happened while we were gone will jeopardize your safety if you don't go now." Third demanded, the peppy tone from his voice completely gone. Without asking any questions, Ryan and Rio ran back the way they came.

As they entered the forest, the shadows started to creep up beside them before shooting out at the two. They two did their best in avoiding the shadows, but as soon as they were within reach of the first clearing, Rio tripped.

"Rio!" Ryan shouted, sensing several shadows heading for the Outlander. As quickly as he could, Ryan picked up Rio and threw him into the clearing. Unfortunately, the shadows pierced Ryan's right arm as a result. The Lucario quickly jumped into the clearing, him and Rio reaching the a pillar of light in it's center and jumping in without a second thought.

/ _Kora's House/_

Rio woke up on one of the rugs in Kora's house, sitting next to him was Zeke and Zen, and across from him was Diana. Diana and Zeke were talking about something, and Zen was only listening. Since he had just woken up, Rio couldn't quite hear everything they were saying, so he decided to get up and ask what they were talking about.

"*yaaaawn* Hey Miss Diana, what're you and Zeke talking about?" The Lucario asked, rubbing his eyes. It was then that he noticed his arm was hurting like crazy! He also realized he had bandage wrapped around his chest and stomach, and Zen had his chest and part of his head wrapped.

" _Oww._ What happened to us?" Rio questioned, holding his right shoulder.

"You happened, actually," Zeke said, looking rather fine for whatever happened earlier that required Zen and Rio to be bandaged, "We were barely able to start training before you flipped out on Zen and attacked us." The Blaziken explained.

"You knocked me out, but I'm assuming you couldn't do much against Zeke." Zen added, gesturing to the bandage wrap on his head and body. "Diana said not to exert myself too much. I'm not gonna be fighting for a while," The Bisharp turned and glared at Zeke, "Although, I probably could've been in better shape if some _bird_ didn't wait for me to wake up and make me help carry you back!"

"Look, I'm sorry about that, but now's not the time to be blaming anyone for anything." Zeke's attempt to avoid an argument almost immediately backfired.

" _I'm_ only blaming _you_! If I was out any longer I'd be dead and you wouldn't have known!" Zen shouted, holding his head afterwards and leaning back on a wall. Diana went over to the Bisharp and gave him some berry juice.

"Despite the fact that some Pokémon made a bad decision, I believe it's more important to find out what made Rio snap." Diana spoke, standing in front of the three.

"I did, several times already in fact. Zen hit Rio with a Dark Pulse, then Rio overreacts and attacks us!" Zeke answered. Diana still didn't like that answer, feeling that there was something missing.

"Rio, what did you do before you went training with Zeke and Zen?" Diana asked the groggy Lucario.

"Um... I fell asleep in the Square, and before that I bought a pie for Minerva. Before that I fought Zeke, and before that me Kora and Minerva had pies at the bakery." Rio replied, his normal answer not exactly what Diana was looking for.

"I find it weird that all you did was fight and eat pie before you went berserk on us at the beach. You might have serious issues to look into." Zen said, reminding Diana of something from earlier.

"Berserk... like when you fought them in the springs today?" Diana asked Zen, the Bisharp catching onto what she might have been implying.

"Rio, did you eat any black berries today? It might've looked like a black Oran berry?" Zen asked, him and Diana both staring at Rio. The Lucario thought for a second before responding.

"Yeah, actually. It was at the bakery. They said that a weird berry plant started growing in their garden and asked me Kora and Minerva to try the pie recipe they used it in. The taste was amazing! It felt like everything I loved about fruit was mixed into the perfect berry just for me." The Outlander smiled at the memory of the delicious berry and excellent pie. Diana and Zen both froze, leaving Zeke and Rio puzzled.

"Y-you said..." Zen stuttered.

"You, Minerva, and my son ate a pie..." Diana stammered.

"With a black berry in it..?" The two finished, worry drenching both of their faces. Rio slowly nodded yes, wondering what was they were going on about.

"I know you didn't know this, but the reason why Zen went berserk at the springs earlier was because he ate a black berry after he first fought you. He also said that he can't remember what happened after he ate the berry, so it might not be the berry itself that does it." Diana said, holding her forehead.

"If the berry _is_ the cause of me going berserk, then the last Pokémon you want to eat a pie made of it would be Kora and Minerva." Zen added, standing up slowly. Zeke and Rio both jumped to their feet as well.

"We have to find them, before something bad happens!" Diana exclaimed, grabbing Zeke and running out the door.

"If this gets too out of hand, _you_ are the one that's going to fix it. You do realize that, right?" Zen asked Rio, the Outlander gave a nod.

"I figured, but if I have to fight either Kora or Minerva, I'm gonna need your help. If we fight together, maybe they won't kill us." Rio said, getting a smirk from Zen. The two ran outside as fast as they could, their drive to stop a disaster pushed aside the pain from their injuries.

 _/Sunset Square, Outside the Bakery/_

Zen led Rio to the Bakery, on the way there the two planned to get the black berry plant removed from the bakers' garden and to remove any pastries that might have the berry in it.

"You sure this is what we should be doing? You don't think we should head to Minerva or Kora first?" Rio asked.

"No, I doubt that you were the only one training. Assuming either of your companions are with Jax or Nate, I'm sure we aren't currently needed. Besides, if we don't get this cursed berry out of circulation, who knows who else could eat it and go berserk?" Zen replied, entering the bakery with Rio close behind him.

Ben jumped as the two bandage-wrapped Pokémon approached the counter, both with determined looks on their faces.

"Oh my, what happened to you two? You weren't fighting, were you?" Ben asked.

"That's not important. We need you to throw out anything you baked with that black berry you found in your garden." Zen said firmly.

"We also gotta get the plant out of your garden! Whatever that berry is, it makes you crazy and attack anyone around you!" Rio added, not making Ben anymore comfortable.

"The black berry? Oh no, Clara!" Ben quickly ran into the kitchen and was heard running down some stairs. Not wasting anytime, Zen hopped over the counter.

"I'll go and get the plant. You get rid of any pastries with the berry." Zen comanded, running into the kitchen and into the garden. Rio nodded and started sorting the pastries in the open.

/ _The Bakers' Garden/_

The Bisharp was met with a surprisingly large garden, tall berry plants with plenty of fruit growing from their branches. A sweet scent lingered in the air, and the assorted colors of the berries helped create an extremely relaxing atmosphere. Without the time to sight see, Zen ventured deeper into the garden.

After what seemed like several minutes of walking, Zen noticed that something was wrong. He'd been walking in a straight line the entire time, he should have came to the wall of the tent or the open area outside the bakery by now. Come to think of it, some of the plants look very similar to the ones near the entrance. The Dark Steel type turned around, seeing nothing but more plants.

"This doesn't feel right." He said, running back the way he came. Zen ran and he ran, but he didn't seem to be going anywhere.

"Kora? Is this one of your illusions?" Zen shouted, looking into the shadows of the garden for any sign of movement. He didn't get a response.

"Rio? Ben? Clara? Anyone?!" He shouted as loud as he could, but to no avail. The Bisharp sighed and held out both arms.

"Forgive me, Ben and Clara, but I can't afford to stay here." Zen said to himself, slashing through any plants near him. The Bisharp slashed through plant after plant, eventually cutting the entire garden to the ground. Much to his dismay, however, the plants grew back immediately after being cut.

"... Why must you destroy the plant, Zen?" A voice spoke from the greenery, surprising Zen.

"It is a danger to anyone who eats it and all the Pokémon around them." Zen replied, not being able to pinpoint where the voice was coming from. If he didn't know better, Zen would say that the voice belonged to a child.

"A danger? Perhaps at first, but you grew stronger from it. Didn't you?" The voice asked. At first, Zen didn't respond, not knowing what the voice meant exactly. After some thought, Zen did remember feeling somewhat more powerful after he recovered from his fight under the Berry's influence.

"What exactly is the berry, if you seem to know so much about it?" Zen questioned the voice.

"It's called a Dark Berry. It only effects Dark-Type Pokémon. The berry grants whatever Dark-Type Pokémon that eats it a massive power boost, at the cost of also massively boosting their emotions. After they are subdued, fortunately, some of the extra power will remain inside them." The voice explained.

"That... There's no way that's natural. What did you do to make these berries?!" Zen shouted. The voice giggled.

"All I did was make them, Zen. No need for such aggravation. I planted these berries for the greater good, just because you can't see it yet doesn't mean it isn't there." After that last sentence, the voice didn't speak again. The Bisharp hoped that meant he could finally leave the garden. As the Dark-Steel Type turned to wear he thought the Bakery was, he was met with the Dark Berry plant, with a singular berry left.

' _The Dark Berry grants any Dark-Type Pokémon who eats it a massive power boost, at the cost of also massively boosting their emotions.'_ The words the voice spoke repeated in Zen's head as he approached the plant. A massive boost in power to _any_ dark type...

 _/Inside The Bakery/_

Rio finally finished getting rid of all the treats made with the black Berry. The Outlander was worried about how long it was taking Zen to return from the garden. Rio was just about to head into the garden when he heard some commotion from outside. Peeking his head out the tent opening, Rio saw Kane towering over Kai and Mia. There was no mistaking it, Kane had that distinct black and red aura around him.

"S-stop it! Leaves us alone, o-or I'll go get Kora!" Kai yelled, standing guard infront of Mia.

"Do it then! I'll just bet the chance to beat the three of you at once!" Kane pounded his foot on the ground, making Kai shake a little. Rio quickly ran outside to help the two kids.

"You won't get the chance to beat _anyone_!" Rio shouted, kicking Kane in the side. Unfortunately, the attack did practically nothing, leaving Rio wide open for a Karate Chop to his attacking leg. The Scrafty grinned devilishly as he lifted the Lucario from the ground by his leg.

"I got me a whole gang of Pokémon worth beatin up! I've been waiting to put you in your place, dog!" Kane laughed, throwing Rio into the air a good distance, kicking the Lucario in the chest before he hit the ground. Rio slid across the dirt, stopping a few feet from the Bakery entrance.

' _What the hell...'_ Rio thought to himself, picking himself up while his aura started to flare up, _'He wasn't always this strong, was he?'_

The jackal didn't have much time to think as Kane was turned back to the two smaller Pokémon. His adrenaline and determination fueled Rio to ran back and attack Kane again. This time, slamming both palms into the berserk Pokémon's back. The results were mostly the same, Kane not being effected, Rio getting a hefty blow to his body. Instead of being thrown away, Rio tried to attack Kane again, head butting the lizard as hard as possible.

"Ahh! You damned dog!" Kane shouted, his tainted aura flaring up even more. Before the jackal could react, Kane's fist was placed very deep into Rio's stomach, sending the Outlander flying backwards. With the wind knocked completely out him, Rio crashed into the ground. Despite the attack, however, the Lucario didn't feel as hurt as he expected. In fact, Kane started holding his fist in pain.

" **GRRRAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!** " The berserk Pokémon roared, Kai and Mia talking this chance to get as far away as possible. An overwhelming sense of danger filled Rio's mind. With remarkable speed, Kane charged towards Rio, not giving the Outlander a chance to defend himself.

"High Jump Kick!" The Scrafty jumped and slammed his knee directly into Rio's head, sending the Lucario into the Bakery. Once again, the attack didn't do as much damage as expected, but it still stung a bit. Hoping to keep the fight outside, Rio picked himself up again and ran outside. As fast as he could, the jackal made a sharp turn straight to Jax's Gym, hoping to god that's were Kora and Diana were.

"Runnin ain't an option for you, mutt!" Kane roared, appearing right next to Rio and punching him in the jaw. The Lucario slammed his shoulder into Kane's side, getting grabbed in the process. Rio was thrown right were he needed to go, right into the gym, however he did hit someone as he entered.

"What's the rush, rookie?" Jax asked, picking Rio off the ground. The Outlander didn't have a moment to respond as Kane already rushed in.

"You're just as pathetic as the cat! Can't even beat me without company, huh?" Kane mocked. Something in the air shifted. Rio felt that sense of danger growing rapidly.

"I should've known that a friend to that worthless excuse for a 'Mon would attract useless scum like you." Kane continued, the pressure around them grew noticeably heavier. Rio and Jax turned slowly, seeing Kora standing at the entrance to the field.

"Say. That. Again." The fox growled. Kane frowned, his aura flaring again.

"Here comes the weakling son of the retired hero. Here to boast about your 'strength' before I send you and your garbage to hell?" Somewhere in that sentence was the wrong thing to say, like, the absolute wrong thing to say. Rio instinctively ran to cover, pulling Jax with him. Kora raised his head, his eyes vacant and empty until they laid upon Kane. At that moment, they turned a deep red.

"Who the hell do you think you are..." Kora muttered, the ever-so oblivious Kane cracked his knuckles and roared.

"I'm a _real_ Pokémon! I don't need to surround myself with trash to make myself feel better for being weak!" Kane ran towards Kora, ready to attack the Zoroark. Upon reaching Kora, unfortunately, Kane was stopped in his tracks by the fox's glare.

"You aren't a real Pokémon. You're dead." Kora's own aura exploded as he uttered those words to Kane, pushing the Scrafty back. Rio and Jax ran outside, leaving the two berserk Pokémon to their battle.

"What's gotten into them?!" Jax shouted. "I've seen powerful Pokémon before, and I've actually seen Kora's aura before, but whatever that was wasn't Kora!"

"I'll try to keep this short, but there's a berry that makes you go berserk when you eat it, and we had a pie with that berry in it. Diana, Zeke, Zen and I were trying to find Kora and Minerva before someone got hurt, but unfortunately it seems Kane might get a lot more than hurt." Rio explained, something telling him to get down. As the Lucario pushed him and Jax to the ground, Kane came flying over them.

"..." Kora walked out the gym, his aura was so thick you almost couldn't see him in it. Kane caught himself before he landed, his face drenched in fear and his aura small. Rio could sense more regret and fear coming from Kane than he felt any emotion besides rage coming from Kora.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!?" Kane screamed, not getting any response from Kora. The fox held up his palm, and several balls of energy shot out at Kane. Going against his instinct, Rio got in front of Kane and blocked the attacks. Even seeing that he hit his friend gained no response from Kora.

"You have to calm down, Kora! If you don't you'll kill him!" Rio shouted, getting silence from his friend.

"..." Kora launched himself forward, not able to be seen from any Pokémon around, and slugged Rio in the side with his arm. The Lucario was sent flying away, leaving the cowering Kane to Kora's fury. Before the beserking Zoroark could attack, Jax managed to throw a weighty rock at his back.

"C'mon Kora, you're better than this!" Jax tried to convince his little buddy to calm down, but got the same result as Rio did. Kora approached Jax, pushing him back with just a paw, sending the Machamp back towards the gym. Kora turned back to Kane, seeing again his friend standing in front of his target.

"I won't let you kill him! Please Kora! Stop this!" Rio shouted.

"..." Kora got down on all fours, his aura expanding even more than before. With blinding speed, Kora jumped over Rio and landed, claws first, onto Kane. Without hesitation, Kora slashed at Kane's chest. The Scrafty screamed in agony, trying to run but Kora had him pinned entirely. Before the fox could get another attack in, he was hit with a Dark Pulse coming from the Bakery.

"Zen? Zen!" Rio exclaimed, his relief replaced with fear at seeing the Bisharp again with a tainted aura.

"Don't worry, Outlander. I'm focusing everything on thinking clearly, and sedating your friend." Zen reassured Rio. The Bisharp got to the Lucario's side, not caring for the panicking Kane below him.

"I hope you have a plan of some sort, because I sure as hell don't!" Rio spoke, getting ready to fight.

"We just have to calm him down, or die trying." Zen responded, flaring up his aura.

"Please, don't ever say that." Rio said, flaring his aura up as much as he could. This time, he noticed, his aura stayed more intact than usual. Kora got back up and faced Zen and Rio. With no warning, Kora jumped at the two opposing Pokémon with his claws bared. Zen quickly slashed downwards, catching Kora off guard and hitting his shoulder. As the fox landed he pushed himself back with his other arm, aiming his body for Zen.

"..!" The fox's leg was caught by Rio before he could reach Zen, getting himself thrown behind the Lucario. Kora hit the ground hard, but it didn't seem to hurt him in the slightest. The mindless fox put both paws up, red and orange sparks flickering infront of them. Zen quickly pushed Rio to the left, readying a Dark Pulse to counter Kora's Incinerate.

"Hahhh!" The two attacks exploded upon hitting each other, pushing the two Dark-Types back a few feet and pushing Rio to the ground. Before the dust could settle, Kora jumped through the smoke, getting to slashes in on Zen. The Bisharp's aura appeared more unstable after the attack, Rio could feel Zen was starting to lose his control.

"Leave him ALONE!" Rio shouted, slamming his shoulder into Kora's back. Not giving the fox a chance to attack, Rio slams his palm into Kora, sending the fox to his knees. Zen quickly recovered and hit Kora with a powerful Dark Pulse. The thick aura around the Zoroark started to shrink, a good sign to Rio that they were doing something!

"Nngggghhh..." Kora groaned, Rio gained a hopeful smile after hearing something finally come from his enraged friend. "Wh...what..? Wh..y?" The Dark-Type groaned, holding his head.

"Kora please! You have to stop!" Rio yelled.

"So... loud... shut, shut up..." Kora looked like he was in pain. "Shut up..! Shut up!!! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!! **SHUT THE HELL UP!!!** " The aura expanded dramatically, swallowing Kora whole in its blackness. A powerful wind formed from the massive aura, pushing Rio and Zen away and causing the tents to shake. Unfortunately, Zen's own aura faded and he fell to a knee.

"Not yet. C'mon, I can't give up now!" Zen said, trying and failing to stand. Rio felt a whole lot more danger coming, not a single thing was going right at the moment.

'What am I supposed to do? How do I stop this?!' Rio's mind was filled with worries and fear. Thankfully, the Lucario was soon joined by Nate and Minerva, both relieved to find Rio.

"What's happenin?! Where's Kora?" Minerva asked. Rio pointed at the large void of darkness.

"Kane started saying some terrible things to Kora and he just exploded into this aura. I'm certain it has something to do with the black berry pie we ate earlier." Rio explained.

"Actually, the Black Berry only effects Dark-Types. Minerva should be fine. Once we knock him out or have him run out of energy, he should get back to normal." Zen added, panting heavily. The Bisharp's previous injuries and new ones finally caught up to him. "I can't... I can't fight anymore. You two have to stop him."

"How? You two got any ideas?" Nate asked, not getting a positive answer from Rio or Zen.

"I think I have one. It sounds really dumb, but I think it'll work. Hey Rio, what can ya feel from him?" Minerva asked the Lucario. He closed his eyes and tried to focus.

"It's difficult to tell, there's so much noise coming from the aura. I can feel bits and pieces of anger and sadness but I can't be sure." Rio answered. The Meowth took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Then it's worth a shot, ain't it." She said to herself, walking to the massive black mass.

"What's worth a shot? We don't know what your plan is!" Rio shouted, but the feline already walked into the aura. Rio couldn't understand what idea could have possibly been going through her head. The three Pokémon stood staring at the aura, waiting for something to happen. A few moments later, Diana and Zeke joined the three.

"What's going on?" Zeke asked calmly.

"She just, went in... she's crazy." Zen spoke, staring still at the darkness before him.

"Who?" Diana questioned. No one answered, more distracted by the shrinking aura. It slowly grew smaller and smaller, bits of aura floating away into the wind like embers from a flame. It took a good minute before the aura dispersed entirely, leaving Minerva hugging a passed out Kora in its center. Rio was about to go and join the two, but his injuries hit him almost instantly after his aura faded, making him fall on his chest.

"You did it. Your crazy plan worked and you did it!" Rio exclaimed, unable to get himself up. Diana rushed over to her son, not knowing what happened but not really caring either. The mother held her son, thanking Minerva, and lifted Kora up in her arms.

"We have to get rid of those berry plants, immediately. Zeke, Nate, I'll handle the plants. I, no, everyone needs you to train these kids to be as strong as possible. Whatever or whoever made these plants needs to be found ASAP." Diana stated, "Go find Jax as well, after I treat my son's wounds, we will meet at the gym." Diana walked off onto the forest path leading to the houses.

"One more thing. Zen, they need you. I don't know if they proved themselves to you yet, but we both know that you can't keep being uncooperative with them. From now on, you _will_ help Zeke train Rio _without_ being an ass about it." The fox ordered. Zen couldn't find the strength to object, and even if he had, Diana wouldn't be so kind taking a "no" after this incident anyway. He figured it'd be best to not get beat to a pulp after today.

"Hey Rio, wanna go over to the springs and get yourself fixed up? We can bring the metal head too if ya want." Minerva offered, helping Rio off the ground. She went over to the Bisharp and offered him her paw. With some hesitation, Zen raised his hand and rested it in the feline's paws.

"Can either of ya walk? I'm not gonna lie, the both of ya look like ya could pass out anytime." Neither of The heavily injured Pokémon could move all that much. Nate lifted the two and carries them over his shoulders. Zeke left to find the Machamp, and the others walked down to the hot springs.

 _/Much Later, SV Hot Springs/_

The sun was setting, giving the sky an orange and pink hue that made the leaves seem to glow. No one had really spoken on the way to the springs, apart from Rio explaining what had happened. Upon reaching the springs, the first thing that caught everyone's attention was the only Pokémon inside the springs.

"Jax? When did you get over here?" Nate asked, putting Rio and Zen into the water.

"Kora did a lot more damage than I thought he did. I tried to get back up after he pushed me, but a sharp pain went through my chest. I was thinking about getting someone to help Rio, but I thought this pain would make that a whole lot harder on me." The Machamp explained.

"From the sounds of it, Rio wasn't exactly on the top of your priority list. I don't know if you noticed, but these two were fighting Kora _while they were already beat up_. You've handle much worse than sharp pains before, muscle head." Nate retorted, making the Machamp sink into the water a bit.

"N-no it's not like that at all! I'm serious, it was getting worse by the second I _had_ to come here!" Jax attempted to defend himself. The Feraligtr sighed and went into the water. Rio and Zen floated aimlessly in the spring, both having their eyes closed and breathing softly. It was almost as if they were sleeping.

"I guess it's been a long day for everyone, huh?" Minerva said, messing up the serenity of the springs.

"If by long you mean painful, then yeah." Rio joked, trying to laugh but it came out strained.

"I've been knocked out twice today and almost killed once. I can't catch a break." Zen sighed. "But at the very least, I can say that it ended rather nicely. Just like it started, in the springs."

"Shame that the twerp couldn't join us. Ya really messed up our mornin, Zen." Minerva said, splashing a bit of water in Zen's direction.

"I hope we didn't do that much to Kora, we couldn't exactly hold back when fighting."Rio asked.

"He may not look it, but Kora can take a beatin and a half and still have the strength to spew out unfunny jokes. I wouldn't be surprised if he was somehow a Steel-Type this whole time." The Meowth joked. The five Pokémon floated in refreshing and relaxing silence for around half an hour.

"I don't know what's in the water, but it's ability to heal you is extraordinary!" Zen exclaimed, jumping out of the springs and stretching out his body. "It's almost like I didn't get beat up several times today."

The group left the springs and started walking towards Diana's house. When they arrived, Jax and Nate left for the gym and the other three went inside to check up on Kora. The Zoroark was sitting in front of the fire with no bandages or anything. He was completely fine. Kora turned his head to see who walked in, but after seeing who it was redirected his eyes back to the fire. Without saying anything, Rio and Minerva sat to either side of Kora.

"I'm sorry." Kora muttered, not looking to either of his friends.

"It's alright dude. It's not like you could have stopped yourself. Besides, Kane deserved it." Rio said, putting his paw on the fox's shoulder. Zen eventually sat opposite to the three.

"Why's mister up-tight with us? Though he and Kane were teammates." From his choice of words, you'd assume Kora wasn't pleased to see the Bisharp, but the fox didn't show any sign of bitterness to him.

"He helped hold ya off 'till I got there. If it weren't for him, you'd have blasted Rio and the rest of the Square out to dust." Minerva said. Kora looked directly at Zen with some surprise showing.

"Then I guess I owe you one. Never thought of you as someone that would help me of all Pokémon."

"Any sane Pokémon would have done the same, you don't owe me anything." The Bisharp spoke. The four sat in silence for the remainder of the day. It's safe to saw that everyone was worn out from the constant drama they faced. A cold breeze swept through the house, making Rio and Minerva huddle closer to Kora, who didn't notice.

Zen sighed and laid on his back, somewhat regretting his decision to rival Rio and his friends with Eva and Kane.

'It's a bit too late for regret now, I _have_ to train Rio, and because of his part in enraging Kora, I gotta keep my eyes on Kane.' The Dark-Steel Type thought to himself.

After half an hour passes, everyone but Kora falls asleep. The fox was lost in his thoughts and the dance of the flames before him. It's not like he hasn't heard insults about Minerva before, and even with the effect of the berries, why did he blow up so much? What is he going to do if it happens again? What if he hurts his friends,well, more than he already did?

'No, I've been able to keep her safe for forever. Some jacked berry isn't gonna stop that.' He reassured himself, a small smile appearing on his face. Kora looked over at Minerva curled up next to him, and over to Rio who was leaning on his shoulder. Satisfied with his goal to continue protecting these two, Kora joined them in slumber.

 _/End Of Chapter/_

Fusion: This chapter was a bit delayed but I hope it was worth it. See you guys in the next chapter!


	8. The Final, Official Start to Training!

Fusion: I had to do a few rewrites, I don't know why but I was some trouble making this chapter. It might've been a while since I updated the story, and I'm not gonna lie, I might take a bit longer creating future chapters if school is anything like it usually is. But I digress, let's just focus on this chapter.

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any other reference media in this story_

 _/Jax's Gym, After the Kora Incident/_

"There's no way it could have been Maxwell, Diana. You beat him forever ago!" Zeke said to female Zoroark as she paced back and forth. Including Nate, the three older Pokémon have been speculating the cause of the Dark Berries showing up. The only thing _close_ to having a similar effect was one of Maxwell's attacks that warped the mind of whoever it hit. Diana was convinced that somehow, someway, the Alakazam was still alive.

"Who or what else could it be then? You saw that aura yourself Zeke, atleast twice now!" Diana retorted.

"Why, if he did somehow survive, would be wait until _now_ to try and do something? He of all Pokémon would not wait almost two decades to try one of his "experiments"." Zeke spoke.

"Then how about you come up with a suspect then hot shot?" Diana yelled. The Blaziken wouldn't admit that he couldn't think of another cause, instead walking over to Nate and sitting beside him. At this point, Jax finally entered the tent.

"So, what'd I miss?" The Machamp asked, leaning on one of the punching bags. Diana sighed and sat near Nate and Zeke.

"We've been trying to figure out what's happening. I know you wouldn't want to hear this, but the only Pokémon we know that is capable this kind of, of, manipulation, is Maxwell." Diana explained.

"The same Maxwell that _she_ took care off ages ago. If you actually killed him back then Diana, why are _you_ the only one to be freaking out about him?" Nate pointed out, getting an angered glare from the Outlander.

"Because my own _son_ might have been possessed or controlled by a Pokémon that has every right to want me dead. _You_ don't have _children_ to think about! And _YOU_ aren't the one _HE_ would be trying to _HURT_." Diana said angrily through gritted teeth, gripping the ground with her claws. The Feraligtr immediately backed off, moving away from the Zoroark before something happened to him. It took her a minute to calm back down and collect herself, but Nate kept his distance regardless

"My point is, there isn't any other Pokémon capable of this. That's what I believe," Diana turned to Jax, "What about you, Jax?" She asked the Fighting-Type.

"I really, _really_ hate to admit it, but you're right. The only problem I see is how in Arceus' name did he come back? I thought he was dead and gone for a pretty long while now." Jax sat with the other three, two of his arms crossed and the other two planted firmly on the ground.

"So did I. It's been so long, I thought I had forgotten about all that. There's just, this really bad feeling I can't shake that it's him. Before he supposedly died, he said that he wasn't done, that he could never be done. When I think about these berries and what they did to my Kora, those words just keep repeating in my head. It _has_ to be him, I know it is." Diana held her elbows and sighed. It's only been a couple of days since the new Outlander showed up and things are starting to take a pretty bad turn. The one thing she kept thinking of were Kora and Kai, her precious boys. The four sat quietly for a few moments before Zeke spoke up again.

"If it really is that Alakazam, how do we find him? The island isn't that big, and the guild takes up the entire mountain and most of the area around it. Someone would have noticed a strange Pokémon running around, right?" The Blaziken asked. Diana snapped out of her train of thought.

"I wouldn't think about finding him yet. First things first, we uproot his plants and wait for him to show. Now that he's caused some unrest among us, he won't be able to resist observing the results first hand." Jax suggested.

"Under that presumption, he'll be attracted to the Pokémon that ate the fruit and went berserk, meaning we need to keep a close eye on Kora, Zen, Kane, and Rio." Zeke added.

"What do we do when we find him? It's not like he'll be unprepared for a fight. If he shows up while we're away from them, do you think they'll be strong enough to beat him?" Nate asked. His question did put some worry back in Diana's mind.

"Then we better get Rio and Kora strong enough to beat him then! We were already gonna make them as powerful as we could get them to be, what's the harm in pushing those two a bit more, huh?" Jax replied with a confident smile that helped lighten the air. Diana smiled at Jax's optimism.

"So that means you and Zeke are going to amp up your training with Kora and Rio. I guess Minerva and I can go berry-hunting since you two will be busy." Nate added. Diana shook her head and stop the Water-Type.

"No, she might not have been effected by a Dark Berry, but she still needs to be prepared to fight. After all, she was able to stop Kora's rampage before a lot of damage was caused, so Maxwell might be interested in her." Diana stated. "If anyone will be finding the berry plants it's me. If I can find one, I can easily find the rest."

Each of them understood that they would have to act carefully, assuming the brilliant and malicious Maxwell is the one responsible for the berries. They have no idea what he could possibly be planning next, wherever he is. As their meeting concluded, they decided it would be best to not bring up the Alakazam around any of the other Pokémon, especially Zen, to keep their knowing of him secret.

 _/Kora's House, Ten Minutes Later/_

Rio jolted awake, breaking the silence and startling Kora and Zen. The Lucario looked terrified about something, holding his side and breathing heavily.

"Whoa, Rio, where's the fire?" Kora asked. Rio took a moment to recollect himself before answering.

"Sorry, I think I had an nightmare. I didn't interrupt anything, did I?" The Outlander asked as he sat himself up and stretched out his arms. 

"Not really, no. You did let me get some room to stretch, my arm almost fell asleep." The fox joked. Zen sat silently on the other side of the room, crossing him arms, seemingly lost in thought.

"It's good that you woke, actually. I didn't want to have to repeat myself if you woke up later. I thought it would be best if we discussed about the future." Zen stated, not looking at either of the Pokémon he was talking too.

"Well, what about Minerva? She's gotta hear this too!" Rio said firmly. The Bisharp shook his head, arms still crossed and eyes still closed.

"It isn't important if she does or doesn't hear any of what I say, if you want to inform her when she wakes, be my guest. What _you_ two need to hear is only important to the three of us since we ate those berries. In fact, I believe we are in grave danger because of those fruit." Zen looked up at the two with a serious expression, sending a chill up Kora and Rio's spines. The Outlander and Half-breed understood and listened intently.

"The strange effects of the berries, while I am unfamiliar with it, I believe is similar to something Diana told me about ages ago. There was a Pokémon named Maxwell that could control Pokémon and bend them to his will using some sort of aura manipulation. She hated talking about him, so I don't know how he did it or how he was able to even experiment with aura, but I do know that whatever Pokémon he possessed had an unnatural aura to them." Zen explained. Kora focused less on the part about Maxwell and more on the fact that Zen is close to his mother in some way.

"You make it sound like you and my Mom actually know each other. Which, you know, sounds ridiculous." The Zoroark said, staring and waiting for an answer from Zen.

"That isn't what's important right now, Kora." Zen replied, "Anyway, I'm certain Diana thinks the culprit is Maxwell, and I also believe that she wouldn't want us to get directly involved in finding him yet." The Bisharp continued.

"If she wouldn't want us to get involved, why did you have to tell us then?" Rio asked.

"Because, like it or not, we would be his test subjects." Zen answered firmly. Neither of the other two completely understood what he meant, which was clearly seen on their faces.

"Test, subjects?" They both said in unison. Zen sighed.

"He's a scientist, and according to Diana, he doesn't shy away from inspecting his subjects by himself after an experiment. If that Alakazam is the one behind the berries, that means anyone who was affected by the berries would have caught his attention," Zen looked directly at Kora, not changing his serious expression, "Especially if one of them showed a massive increase in power and aura, and just so happened to be the son of the woman who defeated him."

Kora realized what Zen was implying. Not showing any fear, Kora looked back up to Zen.

"Wouldn't we be safe anyway since we're training with some of the strongest Pokémon on the island? In fact, aren't _we_ some of the strongest Pokémon on the island?" The fox asked, crossing his arms. 

"We aren't talking about any ordinary Pokémon here, Kora. Maxwell would definitely have a plan to deal with opposition from any of us. It wouldn't be too far fetched to believe he wasn't working alone, either. You might not have seen her in action, but your mother is as ruthless in battle as she is sweet to you and your brother." Zen replied. 

"If she's so ruthless, how do you think Maxwell survived her?" Kora asked.

"You would be surprised at how well pokemon will make you _think_ they're dead, just to show up at the worst possible moment. Diana's had several encounters with Pokémon that shouldn't be alive and well enough to fight her." The calm way the Dark-Steel Type explained that Pokémon can easily come back from the dead left Kora and Rio feeling anxious, hoping that they won't have to experience any of that.

After a few minutes of chatter, Kai and Mia trotted in with a little bag. The Zorua hopped directly up to his brother with a cheerful smile on his face.

"Hey bro! Oh, hi Rio and Zen! We wanted to give you guys something for helping us earlier." Kai exclaimed while reaching into the bag, his loudness making Minerva shuffle around a bit in her sleep. Kai pulled out an old scarf, and wrapped inside it were two eye-catching gems. The first gem was orange with a red and blue flame design inside it, which Kai gave to Rio. The other was rainbow colored and had a black flame design in the middle, which was given to Kora. The scarf, which was red and looked as if it had seen a great many years, was given to Zen.

"Those shiny gem thingies came from me and Mia, we found them in the woods a few weeks ago, so you better not lose them! Oh yeah, and mom gave me that scarf the other day. She said it used to be dad's, but I thought you'd like it Zen. I already have a lot of warm fur, and I thought you'd be cold since you don't have any." The young halfbreed said with a big smile, almost as sweet as his mother's. The Eevee next to him smiled and nodded as her friend spoke. After a moment of inspecting their gifts, the three older Pokémon smiled back and thanked the two gift givers.

"Thank you Kai and Mia. I _did_ need something to keep me warm when it gets cold." Zen said.

"And we'll be sure to keep these with us all the time! I promise we won't lose them." Rio said with a smile. Kora remained mostly silent, but he still nodded and smiled. After getting thanked, Mia got the expression as if she remembered something and poked Kai's tail to get his attention.

"Hmm?" Mia starting motioning for them to leave, "We gotta go? Wait a minute, you're right!" Kai bolted outside with Mia close behind him. Right after he left, Kai popped his head back inside.

"You guys are welcome for the gifts and stuff, but I gotta go, somewhere. See ya later!" He said before sprinting off again. Minerva finally woke up from all the noise that the Zorua made, rubbing her eyes and mumbling something quietly.

"Wassat? Who's the one that wanna get shuddup?" She stammered, not fully awake but getting there.

"It was just Kai dropping some stuff off before going to do, whatever it is he does. He gave me and Rio some fancy gems and gave Zen a scarf." Kora explained, relieved that he can now move around freely.

"We were also going over what might happen while the three of you trained," Zen added, getting to his feet and putting the scarf on around his neck, "I'd rather not go over everything again, so I leave it to your friends to explain what's going on. It's getting to be pretty late and I have some personal matters to attend to." The Bisharp waved a quick goodbye before exiting the house, leaving the three friends to themselves. Kora walked out to the garden after Zen's departure, with Rio and Minerva following behind him.

"Is something wrong, Kora? I'm not entirely sure, but you're kinda acting strange." Rio asked. The fox sighed and sat down in front of the door frame. The three looked up into the vastness of space, speckled with stars and the faint trails of galaxies surrounding them. It was calming and quiet, something that each of them hadn't realized they needed all day. Kora took in a deep breath and let out a soft exhale.

"Can you imagine the things we're going to go through..." Kora asked, turning only his head to the side. Neither of his friends answered. "The few stories my mom told me we're full of danger and despair and destruction... There were even things she said I would have to wait until I was older to hear, and she still hasn't told me any of those yet. The gist of being an Outlander was basically being thrown into a terrifying place and making it out before something worse happened... and I've always felt deep down that, I'd have to go through the same things..." Kora pulled his knees to his chest and rested his head on them. Rio and Minerva sat at either side of Kora, looking either up at the stars, or at the colorful berries around them.

"No matter what terrifying thing we go up against, we still have each other." Rio said reassuringly.

"Yea, there ain't a Pokémon alive that could beat the three of us! Even when we fought Zen at the springs, we took him down easily!" Minerva added, putting a paw on Kora's back. 

"The two of you are so optimistic about being thrown into something neither of you can control. Did I miss the positivity meeting or something?" Kora asked, honestly confused by the positivity Rio and Minerva produced.

"I think the only way to get this done with _is_ to think positively about it. What's the point in getting caught up on what's wrong with it when I could think of all the good we'll be doing? We're going to save an entire planet! What could be cooler than that?" The Lucario replied.

"As cool as that would be, how can you _not_ think about what we're gonna have to do to save it? Saving the world cost mom a lot, she was so close to losing so many Pokémon. To be honest, I think she's still struggling to get over somethings. How can you just, overlook all of that?" The fox asked, letting go of his legs and laying on his back to gaze at the stars again.

"Well, normally when I don't feel too hot, I got a certain twerp that keeps me company 'till I feel better. Ya always been there for me, so it's my turn to pay ya back. Plus, we got Rio to help us both out." Minerva said, laying down next to Kora. Rio did the same, and for a minute or two, the three laid in silence before Kora broke it.

"Thanks, Minerva. And you too, Rio." Kora thanked the two Pokémon with him, feeling a lot less tense than earlier. Getting confirmation that he can lean on his friends was exactly what he didn't know he needed to hear. After a calm, soothing silence, the three tired heroes dozed off again to finally end their long day.

/ _The Next Day/_

The first one to wake up was Minerva. Rio and Kora slept and snored, not at all bothered by Minerva leaving the two in the garden. An inticingly sweet scent emitted from inside the house, helping to shake off that groggy feeling the feline felt. 

Inside the house was Diana and Kai, both sitting in front of the fire with the pot in the middle. Whatever was making that scent was coming from there. The two Dark-Types were too busy putting things into the pot and stirring to notice the Meowth when she entered the room.

"'Mornin Miss Diana, hey there Kai. Whatcha guys cookin?" Minerva asked, seating herself near the two cooks.

"Good morning to you too,Minerva. We're just making some berry juice for you and the boys. You're finally going to start training, again." Diana said sweetly, giving Minerva a short and sweet smile while stirring the ingredients Kai put into the pot. "By the way, me and your teachers talked a bit last night and decided that you three are going to have to get more difficult training than you first planned. I know it's been hectic since Rio showed up, so I hope it's not too much to throw on you."

"Oh, not at all! That's great, actually." Minerva replied. "The more trainin I get, the quicker I get to teach that Kane a lesson!" Diana's smile faded a tiny bit, completely unnoticed by Kai or Minerva.

"Really? I hope that's not the _only_ thing driving you to get stronger. Hating someone might be a good motivator for little while, but holding onto that hatred for too long isn't going to work out for you in the long run." Diana said. Her face was still smiling but her tone was meant to warn Minerva of something, and thankfully, the message was understood.

"I-I mean, it's not like _all_ I wanna do is beat up that jerk. I wanna keep up with Kora, too." The feline said, scratching the back of her head. Diana smiled and focused her attention back to the pot in front of her.

"That's adorable sweetheart. If you wouldn't mind, could you go and wake those boys for me? Me and Kai have our paws full at the moment." Diana asked politely, Kai grinned and nodded his head excitedly. Minerva turned back towards the garden, thinking about what more she and her friends will be doing in their training. The Meowth quickly came upon two snoring teens sprawled out on the garden ground. 

"Hey twerp and fluffy! It's time to get off ya butts and wake up!" Minerva shouted, not getting a response from either of them. "C'mon, I know you two ain't heavy sleepers! Either get up by yourselves or imma wake ya up!" ...Still nothing. The feline sighed and decided it would be quicker to force them up, grabbing Rio's tail and Kora's mane.

"Alright, don't say I didn't warn ya!" Minerva said before spinning the two around a couple times and throwing them upwards. Unfortunately for the slumbering Pokémon, they woke up as they were getting spun, meaning that when they both crashed into the ground, they felt every painful bit of it. Rio was lucky and landed on his back, while Kora landed directly on his head. 

" _Uhhhgg_... I never thought hitting the ground would feel so much worse after you wake up." Rio groaned, rubbing his back. Kora quickly sat on his knees, extremely furious at the abnormally strong cat.

"What on _earth_ is wrong with you?! _Gahh!!_ That really, _REALLY, hurt!!!"_ Kora shouted, holding his head with both his paws. Minerva was more surprised with how easily she lifted the two, realizing she still had the weights on her arms.

"You could've just poked us or pushed us or something. I'm gonna feel this all day!" Rio said, dusting himself off after standing up. 

"Oh, sorry guys. Guess I don't know my own strength." Minerva joked. Kora frowned angrily.

"You send me crashing down on my head, and all you gotta say is _sorry_?!" The Dark-Type exploded, getting some retaliation from the Normal-Type.

"I was surprised too! Thought with all that empty space ya got up there ya would feel a thing. Who woulda guessed ya _actually_ had a brain this whole time?" Minerva mocked, turning around to go back inside. Rio was trying not to laugh and Kora was in shock, being too tired and now injured to retort. As the feline walked away, she had an aura of smugness around her that even Kora felt. "Anyway, ya mom's makin some juice for us before we go out trainin. Who knows, maybe it'll give ya more brain to work with." 

Those words signified Kora's defeat, causing the fox to fall backwards, speechless. Rio quickly stifled his laughter before helping Kora up, carrying one arm over his shoulder.

"I just... I-I just..." The Zoroark mumbled, sulking in his first loss of the day. His Lucario friend found this both hilarious and painful.

"I'm sure you'll get her back later. Right now we should get some food." Rio said, not getting a response from the "defeated" Pokémon. Kora even sank a bit as they walked.

"This isn't gonna be my day..." The fox muttered.

"Alright, now you're just being over dramatic you crybaby." 

Once inside, the sweet scent of berry juice instantly brought Kora from his slump. The fox practically disappeared from Rio's side and reappeared with a cup full of juice before Rio could say a word. Diana gave Rio his own cup and she had a somewhat serious expression on her face.

"I know you three would like a rest after everything that has happened recently." The old Outlander said to the three before her. The only one to answer directly was Kora.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't. Yesterday went on for _forever!"_ The younger fox said before downing the rest of his drink. Minerva gently elbowed him in the side, signaling him to be quiet.

"Yes, honey, I know. However, we need you three to train a bit harder than you were planning. Your instructors and I decided it would be best if you stayed with them while you trained for the month. That way, if anyone should get in trouble, you won't be alone to handle it." Diana held her paws together in her lap. Rio could feel and anxiety coming from her. "I want each of you to promise me that you won't get into any fights on your own. I _need_ to hear the three of you say that you won't fight _anyone_ by yourself." The worry that Rio felt grew, it also seemed to pass into Minerva and Kora.

"We promise." Rio said, followed Kora and Minerva shortly after. Thankfully, their words calmed Diana, but only slightly.

"So, I guess this means I won't be able to try any of your cooking for a while then? I knew it wasn't gonna be my day." Kora said, slumping backwards. Rio rolled his eyes and pushed the fox all the way back.

"Could ya give it a rest twerp? If ya _really_ want it to be a bad day, I could always throw ya again." Minerva said, grabbing hold of Kora's arm. The Dark-Type shot back up with an incredibly fake smile.

"Oh boy! I can't wait to try some of your cooking when I get back from training, Mom!" He said, pretending to sound like a kid. Minerva sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Guess that'll do. C'mon, we got work to do." The Meowth said, waving goodbye to Diana as she left. 

"Thanks for the breakfast Miss Diana. I guess I'll see you in a month." Rio thanked the other Outlander before following behind Minerva, leaving Kora and Diana behind. The teenage fox broke his fake smile and looked at his mother with a bit of worry showing.

"An entire month..? Seems like a little much to me." Kora said. Diana inhaled and closed her eyes before replying.

"You've already made it quite clear that you don't want to do this. If I'm honest, I think things are happening quickly and that you deserve a rest. Time, unfortunately, isn't something we have to waste anymore. I'm not asking you to do this for me, I'm asking you to do this for them." Diana replied, opening her eyes and staring sweetly at her son. "Rio and Minerva both seem set on taking their place as heroes, and as tiresome and challenging as that role is, they won't be able to go very far without you, Koraza. They both need you, much more than you know." After a moment of silence passed, Kora finally stood up and get himself ready to leave. His expression was hidden to his mother as he turned towards the door. Before leaving, he slightly turned his head back and spoke.

"I hope I don't let you down, mom..." Then, he left. One whole month of constant training awaiting him, and a destiny forced upon him to chart his path, Koraza walked quietly to Jax's Gym. Diana, despite not having the ability to read Pokémon's emotions as skillfully as Rio, could feel some sort of negativity coming from her son as he left. All she could do was sit back and watch him leave. As much as she hated to force Koraza into something as strenuous as the training she planned for the three, she knew she was doing the right thing for him. 

The old Outlander sat in the empty room for a few minutes before getting herself ready for her own plans, grabbing her satchel and putting out the fire. Before leaving the house, Diana lifted one of the rocks around the fire, revealing a hole beneath it. She reached in and pulled out a box. Inside the box was a tattered blue and white scarf and a ring big enough to fit on one of her claws.

"Arceus, watch over those children as you did for me." She said, putting the scarf around her neck. "And Orion... please... protect our child..."Diana whispered, kissing the ring and putting it on. The motherly Zoroark didn't want to explain everything to the three teens, but after Kora's outrage and the possibility of Maxwell's still living with revenge on his mind, the feeling of bad things to come wouldn't leave her.

 _'I have to find those berries before anyone else gets hurt. And the moment Maxwell shows himself, I'll have to finish what I started almost 20 years ago...'_ Diana thought to herself before running outside the house with sparks trailing behind her.

 _/Jax's Gym/_

Rio turned his head back quickly, scanning the forest behind him and Minerva.

"What's wrong, fluff?" The Normal-Type asked, looking back to see if there was anything there.

"I just... I could have sworn something just said my name." The Lucario replied.

"Maybe it was the wind. Or maybe the twerp finally decided to catch up to us." Minerva joked, getting a light chuckle from Rio. Sitting before the two are Jax, Nate and Zeke, each showing serious expressions and waiting for the last Pokémon to arrive. Their stoic silence didn't quite sit well with Minerva or Rio, both being used to Jax's child-like attitude, Zeke's sarcasm, and Nate's pretend toughness. Seeing the three not even attempt to joke around was starting to unsettle the two younger Pokémon. It wasn't long before Kora showed up, quietly sitting down next to Minerva and facing Jax.

"Good, you're all here." Jax said, both pairs of arms crossed in front of his chest and abdomen.

"We're sure that Diana already said that you will be going through more intense training, right?" Zeke asked.

"She did. She also said we'd be staying with you while we trained for the month." Kora replied, taking Minerva and Rio by surprise. The fox didn't give a sarcastic response, or even a corny quip to lighten the mode.

"Then we should start right away. First order of business is what you three will be wearing." Nate stated, pull a large chest from behind him and placing it in between them. "Much like the weighted bands I gave Minerva, I have six thirty-pound bands, two for each of you. Feel free to wear them how or wherever you like, but you must wear both of them." The Feraligtr explained. 

"Wait, does that mean I still hafta wear _these_ arm bands?" Minerva asked, getting a quick nod from Nate. 

"It wouldn't do you any good to take them off now. We're sorry to put all this on you three at once, but it's all we really have right now." Zeke answered, handing each of the three trainees their new equipment.

"We aren't going to make you do anything too harsh until you're used to wearing those without difficulty. You three will instead be doing easy exercises until then." Jax said, standing up and facing Kora. Nate and Zeke did the same with Minerva and Rio respectively.

"From now on, you three are going to have to put your all into your training. In a month's time, you'll be stronger and faster than you ever were before." Zeke said firmly. 

"..." Rio and Minerva both felt a good amount of pressure being dropped on them, other than the extra hundred pounds. The two started to have the feeling that they are in for a pretty bad time.

"What's wrong? I thought you two were more than excited to become heroes." Kora said coldly to them, adding to the pressure they felt. " _This_ is the easy part. If the both of you are shaken at the idea of a couple extra pounds, you _definitely_ aren't gonna enjoy what you signed up for." 

The sudden lack of positivity that Kora used to radiate, coupled with the cold sternness of his tone, almost bled all the color from his two companions. It was like he was an entirely different Pokémon.

"W-well, that's why we have each other! I'm sure we can make it with these weights on. I mean, it's _just_ fifty pounds." Rio said, trying to lower the tension around everyone.

"Actually, it's more like 120 for me. The both of ya are lucky." Minerva corrected the Lucario, readjusting her arm bands.

"When the week ends, you'll go to seventy-five pounds, then a hundred the next week, then 125." Nate explained. The three older Pokémon each inhaled and exhaled.

"Look, we understand that all of this seems excessive at first, but it's just like Kora said. This is the easiest it'll be for you guys." The Machamp said, showing a bit of concern. "Anyway, we used up enough time already. Oh, before I forget, we've given you guys every Saturday to relax and revitalize yourselves."

Minerva and Rio nodded, relieved that they would be getting some free time through all this. Kora frowned, crossing his arms.

"So basically, you're putting us through almost non-stop training until our day off?" The fox asked, getting a slightly surprised reaction from Jax.

"W-Well... I wouldn't say _non-stop_ per se." The Fighting-Type cleared his throat and got back his stoic attitude. "That's not important now. We have work to do, and the sooner we finish the sooner you can relax." 

The six Pokémon split into pairs. Minerva and Nate traveled back into the forest, Rio and Zeke headed towards the beach, and Kora and Jax went onto the field behind the gym. Rio and Minerva were more worried about the sudden change in Kora's personality rather than whatever training they'll be doing for the month. Rio couldn't help but feel as if something might have happened to his friend, besides erupting into an emotional ball of darkness the day before. If they didn't know any better, Rio and Minerva would assume that Kora has a thing against heroes.

 _/Sunset Beach/_

The two dual-types reached the beach a bit slower than their first time their together. Maybe fifty extra pounds made Rio more sluggish than he or Zeke could have thought. To the Outlander's surprise, Zen was already at the beach, the scarf he was given waving in the cool ocean breeze.

"About time the both of you showed up." The Bisharp said, standing up and dusting some sand off of himself. He had a more, positive expression, sort of like he was happy and determined at the same time. Despite seeing Zen break his uppity facade a few times, Rio was gonna need some getting used to the constrast between Zen now and when the Bisharp threatened to kill him a couple days ago.

"We're going to ease up on testing his ability and get him used to the weights he has on. For a Fighting-Type, the best way to get used to extra weight would be to keep him in his element." Zeke said, walking next to Zen. 

"So he's going to be fighting the both of us? I'm expecting that there's some catch." The Bisharp asked. Zeke turned to face Rio, a faint red glow radiating off of him.

"The catch is that we're not going to give him a chance to win." The Blaziken held a fist out at Rio, a small burst of flame sending warmth towards the Lucario. "We _both_ are coming at you at full power, not at the same time atleast. Not yet. Wouldn't wanna hurt you too bad." 

Rio grinned, getting into a fighting stance and flaring his aura up as much as possible. " _Hehe,_ my body's been aching for an actual fight against you since we first sparred! You too, Zen! If I gotta beat the both of you to get stronger, then I guess losing ain't an option!" The Outlander's confidence and fighting spirit put a smile on both his sparring partner's faces.

"That's the spirit, spoken like a true fighter! We've got not time to waste then, let's go!!" Zeke shouted, jumping high above Rio before crashing down with his heel.

 _/Somewhere in Sunset Forest/_

Minerva and Nate stopped in a different clearing than before. It was almost spotless, excluding a few twigs and leaves. It almost seemed to dip in the middle, and the trees around the clearing were noticably larger than most of the forest.

"I thought we was still cleanin up that other clearin. Why're in a different one?" The feline asked. Her mentor didn't answer right away, walking to the center of the clearing and facing her.

"Tell me why you decided to join Rio." Nate asked, mostly ignoring Minerva's question.

"Don't I have to? It's somethin like my destiny or whatever to help him, right?" The feline responded. The feraligatr shook his head and crossed his arms.

"I guess I should rephrase that. Why do you think you'll be able to _help_ Rio? The Water-Type questioned his trainee. At first, Minerva felt insulted, but it didn't take her long to see why he would ask that.

"If ya wanted to say i'm too weak for this, all you had to do-"

"Who said you were weak?" Nate interrupted the Meowth. She stood speechless. 

"Despite the fact that you have been in a small handful of fights and still aren't even evolved, you have incredible strength, Minerva. Don't let _anyone_ tell you you're weak. You haven't trained in your life, you were born and raised on an island, and the only hardships you've faced, you and your friends always fake out on top." As her mentor spoke, Minerva remained silent. Nate's words of praise were some she never heard before. "Minerva... you can become one of the strongest Pokémon who has ever lived. All you have to do, is fight." 

All of a sudden, it felt as if the weights on her body weren't there. Not just the bands, but the insults that Kane gave her also seemed to hold no meaning to her right now. After a few moments of quiet, Minerva gave Nate a confident smile.

"You're a big softy, especially for a alligator, ya know that?" Minerva said gratefully. Nate returned a smile but held up a claw.

"Glad to see my words worked. However, there is a few things you really need to work on. You're speed and durability, for example. What's the use in being the world's strongest Pokémon if you can't take more than a few punches?" 

"Yea, I getcha. I kinda know how I can get faster, but what about that durability?" Minerva asked.

"Aside from having naturally hard scales, I put myself through countless battles that I had no chance of winning. Every time I got knocked down or blasted with an attack, I forced my body to power through the pain. Eventually, after years and years of getting beat up, I got to the point where someone could break a lot over my back and I'd hardly feel it. Can't say the same for you though, maybe we should just stick to the fighting part." Nate explained, getting on all fours to fight. 

Minerva grinned and brandished her claws, prepared to battle. "Then let's cut the chit chat and duke it out already, lizard-breath!" The two ran towards the other, slashing at each other. With a stronger confidence than when she sparred, and also an already noted increase in strength, Minerva held her ground against Nate. The feline was determined to win and get stronger, not just to save the world or help her friends, but to prove Nate and herself right. 

_/Jax's Gym Field/_

After the others left, Jax immediately broke the seriousness and was ecstatic to _finally_ fight Kora. He was so excited to fight that he completely forgot that Kora wasn't exactly in the fighting mood. The Machamp stood across from the fox on the field, it took him a minute to realize that Kora wasn't doing anything.

"What's wrong little buddy? Don't you wanna fight?" Jax asked, his excitement slowly fading.

"I don't know... I mean, I'd prefer not to." Kora replied. Jax didn't now what to do now, really. It's not like he could force Kora into fighting.

"What if we have a race then? We can run to the beach and back!" The Fighting-Type hoped that a race would be able to lighten up his friend's mood, but he didn't get a response.

"What if we just _said_ I trained today?" The fox suggested, his expression and tone remaining the same. 

"N-no... I promised Diana I would train you for the month. I can't just, lie to her!" Jax exclaimed. The Zoroark before him shrugged. The two stood in silence, Kora with his unchanging negativity and Jax with his growing confusion and frustration. Eventually, Kora started moving towards the Gym.

"W-where are you..?" The Machamp asked. Kora stopped, not turning to answer Jax.

"I promised Mom that I would stay with you for the month, but in reality all that means is that I'm not supposed to be back at my house for a month. If I can't go there and sleep, I guess I'll just sleep in the gym instead. Who knows, maybe I can go on over to Minerva's tent and stay out of your way." Kora stated, continuing to leave.

"Listen, Kora, I can't let you do that. Not today, atleast. If you want to rest you have to earn it!" Jax said aloud right before Kora entered the Gym. "Minerva and Rio are putting in their hardest, hell, so are Nate, Zeke and I! They can't do any of this alone, they need you. Being a hero might be tough, but I believe in you, your friends believe in you, and so does your family! You can't give up now, not when everyone is relying on you."

Jax's little speech didn't get a response from Kora. Instead, the Zoroark stood in silence, letting the wind be the only sound you could hear.

"If I fight you, will you let me go?" Kora asked, still facing the Gym.

"If you beat me, then you can do whatever you want. In return, if you lose, then you have to train with me for the month as planned." The Machamp grinned, thinking that this bet was entirely in his favor. Forcing Kora into something he doesn't at all want to do isn't exactly how Jax was this going, but it's ultimately the best thing for Kora and his team. 

Kora made his way back to the other side of the field, expressionless but in a fighting stance. Jax got into his own stance, his excitement to _finally_ fight Kora returned. "All I have to do is win this fight, and I can leave. I'm holding you to that." The fox said, revealing a cold expression. Jax scoffed and flexed, either ignoring or not noticing the expression.

" _If_ you beat me. That means I'm going one hundred percent!" The Machamp said before running at Kora with impressive speed for a bulky Pokémon like himself. As soon as Kora was in punching range, Jax pulled back two of his fists as they started to glow a bright yellow.

"Thunder Punch!" Jax yelled as he threw both fists at Kora's chest. The moment his fists touched Kora's body, the fox dissipated, revealing to be an illusion. Jax was left wide open to attack, which Kora quickly seized the chance on. The fox was to the side of Jax and slammed a powerful Dark Pulse into his mentor. A feeling of uncontrollable pain seared through Jax's body for a moment, despite how little damage he actually took.

Before Jax could retaliate, Kora held an arm up above his head, his claws covered in a thick black light.

"Night Slash!" The fox quickly slashed downwards, sending a thin black beam at Jax. Kora quickly swiped twice more, each hit striking Jax's side and knocking him down to a knee.

"It's gonna take... a lot more than that to-" The Machamp was interrupted by a powerful explosion of fire, an Incinerate from Kora. Whenever the dust would clear, Kora would fire another, and another, until Jax finally gave up.

"That wasn't a fight, Kora..." Jax said, clutching his side and looking disappointed at Kora.

"I didn't want a fight. Go fix yourself up, I'm out of here." The Zoroark said coldly, again turning to leave Jax to himself. The Fighting-Type didn't know what had gotten into Kora, not did he think he would be able to find out. He'd just have to sit and wait on his friend to come back. No matter how long that would take.

Koraza, more cold than he had ever been, left the Gym and the Square entirely. Instead, the fox wondered off into the woods to be alone. Whatever it was that overcame the Halfbreed Outlander wouldn't have left with a bout against Jax.


	9. Lost and Found

Fusion: Due to how wonky my last chapter turned out, I'll be slightly changing the format of this and further chapters. I'm going to try to never use the center-align feature because it just messes with _everything_ else in the chapter. Fingers crossed that it doesn't somehow effect this chapter, but if I posted it, then nothing should've went wrong anyway.

Disclaimer: _I do not own Pokémon or any other referenced media in the story_

Two days have passed since the start of the three heroes' training, and each of them grew noticeably in that short time. Before the first day was over, Rio already earned an increase in his weights and Minerva's first match ended in a draw. Kora seemingly just, disappeared for the rest of the day. That night when the three teachers met to discuss how well their first day of actually training the three went, Jax remained silent and riddled with guilt and confusion. The disappearance of Kora hit Jax hard, harder than Zeke and Nate thought it should.

By the time the next day began, Jax woke up early to find the missing Zoroark, begging Nate and Zeke not to tell anyone about it. He came back later that day empty handed and heavy-hearted. The Machamp cursed the day he would have to tell Diana that he let her son walk off, never to be seen again. At the very least, Nate and Zeke kept their mouths shut about the issue, trusting their friend to handle the situation on his own and willing to help should he ask for it.

/ _Saturday Morning, Sunset Hot Springs/_

Despite not seeing each other for the majority of their time training, Minerva and Rio had the same idea of where to relax on their day off. The two surprisingly ran into each other at the springs as the dawn sky was still pink and orange.

"Geez Rio, ya look like you've been fightin for three days straight! Your fur's all dirty and scuffled and stuff!" Minerva exclaimed, quickly scanning the Lucario's body. The Outlander chuckled and dusted his shoulders off.

"You're not too far off, actually. Who would've guessed that fighting is the best way to train a Fighting-Type, huh? Whenever we weren't fighting, Zeke and Zen thought it would be helpful to teach me more about Pokémon, like Pokémon types and how attacks work and all that cool stuff." Rio said. Minerva raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

"Zen? The hell are you and him trainin together for? Last time I checked, he didn't think we were worth his time."

"I thought it was weird too. I mean, I remember him promising Diana to help train me. Plus, I'm pretty sure he's friends with Zeke already, so maybe the whole uppity attitude he had was fake?" Rio suggest as he climbed into the soothing heat of the hot spring, shortly followed by his feline friend.

"Speaking of Diana, ya wouldn't happen to have seen Kora on your way here, did ya?" Minerva asked.

"Nope, maybe he's sleeping in today. We weren't expecting to run into each other, why do you think me and him would come down here together?" Rio replied with his own question.

"I dunno... I just feel like he'd be here first if he was comin here at all." Minerva paused for a moment, an odd chill starting up her spine. "Maybe we should look for him?"

Rio shrugged and floated a bit closer to Minerva. "It might be because I'm not as close to him as you are, but I don't think anything bad happened to him. If you're _that_ worried, we could see if he's with Jax after we finishing resting up here."

"Yea, you're right. First we rest up, then we go wake up that lazy fox."

The two soaked up the spring water for half an hour before deciding it was time to check in on Kora. Both of them hopped out of the spring, shook off most of the water from their fur and made their way to Jax's Gym.

 _/Jax's Gym, Training Field/_

When the two reached the Gym tent and saw no one inside, in fact it looked like no one's been inside for a while, they went to the field to see if anyone was there. Much to our heroes' surprise, the field was empty and showed no signs of any training whatsoever.

"..." Rio and Minerva looked around, still seeing no one, before looking at each other with growing concern.

"We need to find them... like, it's not just me thinkin that, right?" Minerva said, trying to hide her rising anxiety about the sudden disappearance of Kora and Jax. Rio quickly nodded his head.

"I don't... I can't even sense them around here. Hell, I can barely even sense any of Kora's energy from a few days ago!" The Outlander exclaimed, accidentally speeding up Minerva's panicking.

" **WHAT?!** Y-you mean he hasn't even _been_ here?" The Meowth shouted, the two stood there deathly quiet, waiting for the other to say something, or for Kora to show up and ask the two what all the yelling was about. After two minutes of unearthly silence, Rio and Minerva ran out of the field and through the gym as fast as they possibly could. They were so caught up in trying to find their friend as fast as possible that they didn't notice their teachers walking by, and crashed into them at full speed, all four of them being knocked to the ground.

"I thought you two would've slept in today, what's the rush?" Zeke asked as he helped Rio up.

"Somethin's wrong! We went to look for Kora and he wasn't even at the Gym!" Minerva yelled.

"I tried to sense some of his aura and I couldn't find anything except some really faint tracks, they probably happened a few days ago, and I couldn't even sense Jax!" Rio added.

"We gotta go find them!" The two frantic Pokémon said in unison. Zeke and Nate didn't have time to object before being pulled away by Rio and Minerva into the forest.

/ _Sunset Forest, a few minutes later_ /

"Would the two of you please calm down!" Nate shouted as he grabbed hold of a tree trunk to stop him and Minerva. The small cat nearly tore the tree up from its roots, it now leaning much further to the side than it would naturally.

"We don't have time! They could be in trouble!" Minerva said, trying again to pull the alligator.

"And where are you going to look? Were the two of you gonna think about that before or after you got lost yourselves?" Zeke said firmly, pulling Rio back to stop the Lucario's sprint. The young Pokémon finally came back to their senses.

"But, they're still gone! We still have to find them! If Rio keeps doin his aura sense thing, we can definitely find the two of them!" The feline said.

"*sigh* I get that you are both worried, but Kora's fine. Jax has been looking for him and I'm positive he can find him." Zeke explained, not getting the relieved reactions he was hoping for.

"THE BOTH OF YOU KNEW KORA WAS MISSING AND DIDNT TELL US?!?" The now livid Pokémon yelled. Instantly regretting telling them, Zeke pushed Nate to continue talking.

"Uh, actually, Jax told us not to? He said he'd find Kora by himself before Saturday, and we, well, we wanted to prove we trus-"

"YOU BOTH LET JAX LOOK FOR KORA BY _HIMSELF_ JUST TO SHOW YOU **TRUSTED** HIM?!" The booming combination of Rio and Minerva's voices made the two experienced Pokémon shrink and hide behind each other.

"Alright, Alright! We get it, we're sorry! Please calm down, please!" Nate begged from behind Zeke. The Jackal and Feline both took a deep breath before responding again, although the amount of anger stayed the same, their volume was thankfully less frightening for Zeke and Nate.

"How did the two of you think for even a moment that it was smart to leave finding Kora to _just_ Jax? Have the two of you lost your _minds?_ " Rio asked angrily, crossing his arms.

"The both of ya are lucky we don't beat some sense into ya right now! Do either of ya know where Jax went to look for Kora?" Minerva asked.

"H-he never told us. He just said that he would check every inch of the island if he had to, and he wouldn't come back without Kora." Nate explained. Rio and Minerva both sighed and wiped their faces.

"Then it looks like we're lookin for the both of them then. This is _exactly_ how I pictured today would go." Minerva stated sarcastically.

The four Pokémon decided to split up and search as much as they could for either Jax or Kora. Minerva went to search around the beach, Rio went towards the Mountain to the North, Nate went deeper into the forest and Zeke went to to search the area around the Square.

 _/Northern Forest Path/_

It didn't take long for Rio to find a path as he walked straight for the massive mountain that shot above the clouds. It being his first time going anywhere near the impressive rock formation, Rio unfortunately forgot to ask anything about it. As he walked, the Outlander made sure to try and sense any auras that might be around him, keeping in mind that he is entirely alone and that Maxwell that Zen described could be near. The trees grew larger and their foliage denser the longer Rio followed the path. In a matter of minutes, it was impossible to see above the trees and very little sun shone through the leaves. An eerie atmosphere surrounded Rio, slowing his footsteps and making him slowly flare up his aura.

"I... I didn't get turned around, did I?" Rio asked out loud to himself, needing to hear something over the silence of the dense forest. He begrudgingly pushed forward, too scared to turn around and risk being even more lost. The path he followed was looking more and more like regular forest ground, tempting the Lucario again to run the other way. But again, he continued on towards the mountain, at least he hoped he was.

Rio wandered forward for half an hour before coming to a halt. He had come to a fork in the path, both nearly identical and both leading into darker woods. He was positive he hadn't turned either direction when he followed the path to here, so the mountain should still be straight ahead, right? Maybe, when the path was starting to dwindle, he _did_ turn in one direction or the other, but which way? If he could climb the trees and look for the mountain, then he would surely find the way, right?

After several failed attempts at climbing the trees, Rio finally decided to take the right path, mostly on instinct. He wasn't sensing any auras, the underbrush was almost dark as night, and he didn't see anyone in that direction. Another half hour passes, and Rio still finds nothing and nobody. Hell, he probably isn't anywhere near the mountain anymore. The anxiety and fear from before slowly grew into irritation and disappointment.

'I'd better head back before everyone has to find _me_ instead.' Rio thought to himself before turning back around. Low and behold, he came face to face with a shadowy figure. How had he not sensed this Pokémon earlier, especially with how close they were. Neither of them moved, and Rio didn't dare turn around and get attacked.

"Who are you?" Rio asked, standing firm. The figure didn't respond, almost as if it didn't hear him.

"Why are you following me?" Still nothing. Rio waved his paw in front of the figure's face, just to have it lightly slapped away.

"...He isn't here..." the figure spoke, pointing to the right. "...Go there, and you can escape..." Rio turned to where the Pokémon was pointing, it was nothing but trees, no path or anything like that. When the Outlander turned to the Pokémon again, it was gone. Hoping he hadn't gone mad, Rio walked the direction the was told to.

It was difficult to squeeze path the trees while also making sure he didn't turn any direction and get hopelessly lost. If Kora had been in these woods, hopefully he could find his own way back. It felt like hours before Rio could see sunlight again, his feet were sore from walking over twigs and stones and his arms were tired from pushing himself between the tight spaces of the trees. That spike on his chest didn't help at all either, it would dig into the trunk and Rio would have to spend a minute or two getting unstuck.

"Thank god!" Rio exclaimed, falling on his back on the dirt path he first followed. He'd never been so happy to see dirt and sunshine before. Rio took a few minutes to rest before getting himself up and following the path away from the mountain. Every now and then he'd feel something staring at him, then disappear whenever he stopped walking or turned to see what it was.

Despite how much time Rio thought he was lost in those strange woods, he was gladly reassured that he spent no time at all there. He did make a mental note to check those woods back when he gets the chance, there's definitely something going on there. Before he was given much time to ponder what it could be, Rio heard a large explosion coming from the woods to his right. Hoping it was Kora, Rio ran as fast as he could towards it.

 _/Sunset Beach, After the group first split/_

Minerva actually went to the beach to take her time and relax a bit. There were three way more competent Pokémon, and Rio, looking for Kora. As worried as she was to find out Kora was missing, and as much of a hypocrite she knew she was for thinking this, Minerva trusted the four Pokémon to find the fox without much of her help. If anything, with Rio's aura sensing ability, they should be able to find Kora before nightfall.

The serene atmosphere of the beach was second only to the soothing heat of the hot springs, but who's gonna complain over a walk on the beach, right? Despite how relaxing the shoreline was, with the small waves crashing down and the sun making the water surface sparkle, Minerva couldn't shake the worry that _something_ happened to Kora. As much as she tried to relax her mind and enjoy the beach, she was also beating herself up for leaving Kora to be found by someone else.

'C'mon, Minerva! Ya gotta calm down. Ya've had a tough few days of trainin, ya deserve a break!' She thought to herself.

'Ahhhh, but Kora's out there somewhere, alone, maybe hopin' someone would find him! For _you_ to findhim!She'd thought right after. The relaxing walk on the beach she thought she would have was quickly turning into a confusing shouting match in her own head. Should she leave Kora to the other guys? Maybe she has to find Kora herself, but how? Minerva was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she tripped over a big, bushy and white tail.

"Hey, watch where you're-!" Eva shouted as she turned to see who it was, instantly shutting up when she saw the small feline dusting sand off her fur. "... oh."

Minerva and Eva looked at each other for a moment, not exactly knowing what to say or do. When she decided the silence was awkward enough, Minerva turned and continued down the shore. Eva thought about saying something, _anything,_ but she couldn't think of anything before Minerva was already out of earshot. The Zangoose went back to staring out to sea, pondering whatever it was she was pondering before Minerva interrupted.

' _That was... something_.' Minerva thought, shaking the last bit of sand off of her. If she didn't know any better, she'd have sworn Eva had appeared out of nowhere just to annoy her. Sand and fur don't mix very well. At least Minerva can think clearly again, that short run-in with Eva might've done Minerva more good than she thought. Atleast, that would have been the case if she didn't see something quickly run into the forest.

"Hey, who's there? That you, twerp?" Minerva shouted as she ran towards the woods, hoping to catch up to who or whatever she say. The area she ran into was much less dense than other parts of the woods, making it easy for her to spot the figure she was pursuing. Minerva got onto all fours and sprinted as fast as she could towards the small figure, jumping over roots and rocks in the process. The closer she got to the figure, the more she thought it was getting smaller. When Minerva got close enough to almost grab it, the figure was much smaller than when she first saw it.

"This better not be one of your illusion's twerp!" Minerva yelled as she pounced on the figure. In all honesty, she _really_ hoped it was one of Kora's illusions. If it was, that would be a good sign that he's fine... hopefully.

When the Meowth realized that the figure had entirely disappeared once it was pounced, Minerva noticed that she was in a part of the woods that she hasn't been to before. The trees were skinny and tall, and their bark was stringy and brownish. Even though it was nearing winter, the cold was much more noticeable here, bringing Minerva to a light shiver. The ground below her was soft and almost clear of any sign of life, aside from what Minerva assumed were tiny paw prints. Not knowing exactly where she is, the Normal-Type decided to follow the prints deeper into the woods, a wonderfully genius idea that could have _no_ foreseeable repercussions whatsoever.

The further into the forest Minerva went, the colder it would become. At first the drop in temperature was barely noticeable, but after maybe half an hour of walking, it was significantly colder. Every exhale was a cloud of steam that dissipates as soon as it reached the leaves high above her.

"D-damn. How's it so c-cold all of a sudden?" Minerva said, rubbing her arms and wrapping her tail around her waist. If Kora's here, he'd be perfectly fine with just the cold, but something about this area felt way more unnatural than the rest of the island. All the years she's lived here, and she never _once_ heard of an area that would get this cold this quick. It came to a point where the only sound you heard was her teeth chattering and the steps she took in the soft, nearly frozen dirt.

"I-I gotta head back..! Th-th-this ain't natural!" Minerva said out loud, turning back to see that the tracks she was following weren't behind her anymore. They were gone, not even her own tracks were there. Minerva bolted the direction she came, atleast she hoped she did, and didn't turn back around. She walked in a straight line, she knew she did.

After a few minutes of running, Minerva heard something fall. She stopped dead in her tracks, slowly turning around, and seeing nothing. No fallen trees, no unconscious Zoroark's, no nothing. She waited another moment before she began running again. A few minutes pass and she hears someone fall and groan. Minerva quickly turned back to see... Eva? She looks like she stepped on a really soft spot and fell flat on her face.

"E-Eva..? The h-hell are ya followin me for?" Minerva asked, walking over to the fallen Zangoose. Eva quickly hushed Minerva and pointed behind her. When the Meowth looked where Eva was pointing, she saw a Zoroark walking around, perfectly fine. Her eyes lit up as a smile stretched across her face.

"Hey Kor-" Eva quickly covered Minerva's mouth and tried to hide behind one of the thicker trees. It didn't help much. The Zangoose held Minerva close and tried to steady her breathing, hoping that they weren't heard or spotted.

"Alright, I'm gonna uncover your mouth, and I need you to _whisper_. Got that?" Eva said quietly to Minerva. The cat gave a confused expression, but nodded anyway.

"Why're we hidin from Kora?"

"That _isn't_ Kora. That... _thing_ was following you after you ran in here!" Eva whispered. "After I heard you about to someone and ran in, I may have followed behind after you. But by the time I saw you again, you were running into the forest and that Zoroark showed up. I barely saw its face, but I _know_ that isn't him."

Minerva froze for a second, scanning Eva's face to make sure she wasn't lying. The scared look on the Zangoose confirmed that she was telling the truth, and Minerva felt a bit terrified.

"What do we do?" Minerva asked, leaning closer to Eva to speak quieter. The both of them stood their at a loss of ideas, until they heard footsteps get closer to them. They both froze, Minerva could feel Eva's heart pounding out of her chest. The Zangoose held Minerva tighter, trying her hardest not to make a sound or move. Minerva slowly looked over Eva's shoulder, and saw the "Zoroark" walking right towards them. All the color and warmth left Minerva when she saw the "Zoroark" start to run when it saw her.

"We need to move! Like, right now!" Minerva shouted, jumping out of Eva's arms and pulling her forward. Just then, the Zoroark slashed through the tree right where Eva's head was. Without another word, the two Normal-Types sprinted as fast as they could away from the Zoroark. When the Pokémon saw the two getting away, it made a beeline right for them. It was much faster than the both of them, gaining distance extremely easily.

"I-It's right behind us!!! Minerva!!!" Eva screamed. The Zoroark jumped forward at alarming speed, ready to attack the two females. Minerva quickly grabbed Eva's arm and threw her as far forward as she could, turning quickly to meet the Zoroark head on.

"If it's a fight this freak wants, it's a fight this freak'll get!" The Meowth yelled, ducking under the Pokémon's first slash and grabbing it's chest. Minerva spun the Zoroark around and threw it back the way it came, making sure it would hit a few trees on it's way. Eva went back to Minerva's side, still riddled with fear, but not willing to leave Minerva alone.

"I-If you're fighting, then so am I!" Eva proclaimed through a cowardly expression. Minerva kept her eyes on the dark Pokémon she was fighting, nothing how quickly it recovered from being thrown through two of the trees. The Pokémon shook it's head and looked directly at the two it was after, charging them down again.

"Move!" Minerva commanded, jumping to the side. Eva followed the order, although it was more of a dive than a jump. The fox shot past the two and crashed into another of the trees.

"Whatever this thing is, it's really dumb. Just make sure you don't get hit by anythin." The Normal-Type cat stated, evading another attack from the Zoroark. While she still tried her best, Eva's fear kept her from advancing any attacks on the Pokémon, instead waiting for it to try and attack her and swipe at it. The forest temperature was dropping more and more as time passed, the two Normal-Types are fighting against time as well as a strange Zoroark.

"C'mon Eva! We can't keep dodgin this guy!!!" Minerva shouted, barely evading another slash from the Zoroark.

"I-I know! J-Just give me a minute!" Eva shouted back, attempting to psyche herself up somehow. Unfortunately for one of the two girls, the Zoroark seemed more focused on attack Minerva, giving Eva plenty of time to do _anything._ Eventually the ground under Minerva began to give way whenever she landed, causing her to stumble and get ever so close to being hit. The Zoroark started to attack widely, being sure to hit the ground if he couldn't hit the feline and leaving noticeable dents and holes in the ground.

After a plenty of missed attacks and holes to riddle the ground, the Zoroark jumped away from the cat and ferret. Minerva was relieved to finally catch a breath, and Eva was hoping to Arceus that the Pokémon would leave. Much to their dismay, the Zoroark held up both it's paws to them, and a sudden Dark Pulse hit the both of them in the blink of an eye. The two landed several feet back, not entirely able to process the pain before getting back up.

"Eva, try and run to him, I'll keep him distracted." Minerva ordered, getting a nervous nod from Eva. The two ran in different directions, with the Zoroark paying no mind to the Zangoose at all. The little feline ran as fast as she could, dodging pulse after pulse as well as the holes the Zoroark put in the ground earlier.

Eva got close to the Zoroark and tried to hit it with a Crush Claw, but the second she got close to it she was kicked away without the Pokémon even turning to make sure it hit her.

"D-damn... Crush Claw!" She tried again, getting the same result. She tried again and again, eventually getting the Zoroark's attention. The dark Pokémon stopped it's assault against Minerva and aimed at the annoying Zangoose. Instead of a black aura, a fiery spark ignited in his palms. Eva was frozen by fear and the pain of several kicks to the stomach, and Minerva quickly realized what was going on.

" **EVA!!!** " Minerva shouted, sprinting as fast as she could to help the Zangoose. The Meowth was able to reach Eva and knock her out of the way, but suffered the explosion head on as a result. The attack's explosion was massive, sending Minerva flying far backwards and Eva to the side a few yards. When the dust settled, Minerva was on the ground, struggling to get back up. The Zoroark slowly walked towards her, each step resonating in Eva's head.

"No..." She said, staring at the Pokémon as it advanced towards the hurt Meowth.

"Leave her alone..." Eva said louder, clenching her fists. The Zoroark didn't acknowledge her at all. It reached Minerva, picking her up by the throat. The Zangoose's fear quickly turned to anger. Anger of being ignored, treated like nothing. Anger of her weakness and fear of this, _thing,_ that threatened to hurt Minerva. Anger at herself for doing _nothing_.

"I said LEAVE HER **ALONE!!!** " Eva shouted at the top of her lungs, standing up and glaring angrily at the Zoroark. Just as before, it paid her no mind. A sea of fury rose inside of Eva, an overwhelming emotion she had never felt before. Pure, unbridled, _rage._ With this emotion screaming in her head, Eva let out her own shout, a swirling, searing vortex of dense flame, a Flamethrower. The blast of fire struck the Zoroark in the back, pushing it forward several yards before exploding violently. The Zangoose started breathing heavily, angrily, and waited to see if the Zoroark would show up again.

"Where the hell are you!?" Eva shouted, smoke emitting from her mouth as she spoke. The dark Pokémon got up, looking dazed and hurt. Minerva was to the side, she saw the whole thing happen. Knowing that Minerva was safe, Eva decided to give that Zoroark the payment it deserved for hurting them. Another Flamethrower was fired, again hitting the Zoroark head on and exploding on impact, the force pushing Minerva back a little.

"That was for kicking me in the stomach!" Eva shouted, running up to the Zoroark before firing again. The dark Pokémon attempted to leave, but stumbled on one of the holes it made earlier, getting hit with another blast of fire directly. For the first time since this battle started, the Zoroark made a noise, a pain filled scream.

"Wait! Eva wait!" Minerva shouted, picking herself up. "That actually _is_ him! It's Kora!"

Eva stopped, even thought she really wanted to blast the Zoroark again, she didn't want to make Minerva upset if she kept attacking it. The Zoroark slowly got back up, panting and looking at the ground. It swayed lightly back and forth, before sprinting full speed at Eva. She didn't hesitate to fire again, hitting the Zoroark barely a foot away from her and getting herself caught in the explosion as well.

"Try that again! I _dare_ you!" Eva said, more smoke coming from her mouth. The Zoroark stepped back, looking between Eva and Minerva, and it started to look angry. It started shaking and twitching, and holding it's head in frustration. The Zoroark started glowing black and red, the same aura that appeared on those under the Dark Berry's influence. Suddenly, the aura erupted from it, pushing Eva back and caused the wind to start to pick up. It started getting much colder, the trees started to shake and bend from all this sudden pressure, and for once, Eva was ready for a fight.

"If you think this is gonna do anything, I got another Flamethrower to tell ya otherwise!" The Zangoose proclaimed, agitating the Zoroark more. It jumped at Eva again, this time with much greater speed and force. Unable to fire another Flamethrower, Eva dodged to the left and grabbed the Zoroark's arm, slamming it into the ground with great power. After the dark Pokémon was slammed down, Eva quickly blasted the fox with another beam of fiery rage.

Minerva stared in awe of the sudden explosion of power Eva was showing off. Before, no one could really doubt Eva's natural skill in battle, being able to hold her own against Kora and Minerva whenever they ended up fighting. You'd think that with the rise of power among everyone, that she's naturally be able to adapt and grow along side everyone, but not _this_ fast. She's barely even been seen after Zen's first outrage and that distasteful encounter with Kane, but in just one day she went from cowering from a possessed Kora to beating him senseless! Minerva would almost never admit this out loud, but she's more than a bit jealous.

As if they needed any more saving, Rio comes running in not that much later. The Lucario was shivering and shaking when he arrived.

"W-what's going o-on?" He asked through his chattering teeth. Eva jumped away from the Zoroark and glanced at Rio before answering him.

"Not much, Outlander. Just burning this fox to a crisp!" She exclaimed, her overly enthusiastic tone worrying Minerva.

"This fox is actually Kora! We gotta knock some sense into him!" The Normal-Type cat exclaimed, get herself ready to fight again. Rio nodded, his aura naturally flaring up and his demeanor becoming more focused.

"Dang, I thought I'd find him first. Oh well, looks like I'll just have to be the first to knock him out." Rio said boldly and grinning with confidence. When Zoroark noticed another Pokémon had arrived, it didn't run nor did it's need to fight shrivel away. It flared back up its own aura and pointed both paws at the three Pokémon. It fired two Incinerates, one at Rio and Eva and another at Minerva. The three dodged the attacks easily, but they accidentally distances themselves from each other in the process. The fox decided to attack Minerva again, charging her down before the dust could settle. Before it even reached her, Minerva was ready to attack.

"Big mistake!" She shouted, slashing at the fox's chest as she stepped to the side. Not letting up, she slashed several more times around it's body before grabbing both it's legs and throwing it towards Rio. "He's comin you're way Rio!"

"Right!" The Outlander readied himself to fight. When the dark Pokémon was within reach, Rio slammed it's back with one of his palms, stopping it suddenly, and hit it into the ground with both arms. As the Zoroark bounced back up, Rio grabbed it and threw it as far up as he could.

"I got him!" Eva shouted, firing a Flamethrower at the skyward fox. The explosion was magnificent, but after a few seconds they realized that nothing was coming back down. Did they blow him to pieces? The answer came in the form of Eva shouting in pain. Somehow, the Zoroark was behind her, and it fired a Dark Pulse directly into her back.

"Eva!" Rio and Minerva shouted, running to her aide as quickly as they could. The fox didn't hesitate in firing more Pulses at to the before they arrived, sending them back a good distance.

"Gah! Didn't we _just_ send him flying? That wasn't an illusion was it?" Rio asked Minerva, not entirely affected by the Dark Pulse. It might be because of the type advantage, and he's also been hit with a few of them since he arrived, so the searing, burning pain didn't really hurt him that much.

"There's no way. Kora's illusion aren't supposed to be hit or fight back. They're not supposed to be real. We must've hit him!" Minerva replied, not as used to the pain of a Dark Pulse, but the mix of adrenaline and the drive to save Kora helped her push through it. Eva was still on the ground and the Zoroark was about to fire another attack.

"We can't get over there in time!" Minerva said. An idea popped into Rio's head.

"Throw me, as hard as you can!" He demanded, not getting any objections from the feline. Minerva picked up Rio, spun a couple times, and launched the jackal directly at the Zoroark. The moment Rio was close enough to hit the fox, he slammed his head right into the Zoroark's, knocked it back several yards. Rio instantly regretted headbutting the fox, groaning in pain as he held his aching head.

"Not smart. That was not smart. That's gonna hurt for a few days, why did I do that?" He said, sitting down. "Atleast it hurt him worse, I don't think he's gonna-" Not given the time to finish his sentence, Rio was hit with a fiery explosion from behind him. Fire seemed to hurt a _whole_ lot worse than a Dark Pulse and way more than his headbutt. Rio looked behind him to see a Zoroark, covered in black aura, ready to blast him again. In front of him, the Pokémon he headbutted wasn't even there anymore.

"Are you... kidding me..?" Rio strained to say. The moment he attempted to get up, he was hit with another Incinerate, knocking him down. Fortunately, Eva was able to get up and fire a Flamethrower at the fox, blowing it up and sparing Rio from another attack. The three Pokémon stood side by side, facing the Zoroark Eva blasted. This time, it looked like it didn't really feel the blast, much to everyone's dismay.

"Shoot. I don't think I got another one in me, what about you guys?" Eva asked, holding her chest with one paw. The both of them shook their heads no. Before they three got ready to fight again, a Dark Pulse hit the fox from behind. The Pokémon who came to their rescue was none other than... Kane.

"You alright Eva?" He asked. The Zangoose smiled and nodded.

"What, did you think I'd have trouble with just one fox? You gotta give me more credit than that." Eva said.

The Zoroark quickly turned and went to attack Kane, receiving a swift blow to the head. The Scrafty scoffed at the fox and went to Eva's side.

"Yea, I see what you mean, this fox ain't that tough." The Scrafty said smugly, completely ignoring the other two Pokémon. The fox stood back up, furious but visibly tired. It roared loudly, but was quickly shut up by Kane punching it in the chest. Rio came the side and hit the Zoroark with his palm, right in the head. The two Fighting dual-types hit the fox one after another, Kane would hit high then Rio would low, then they'd switch.

"Alright dog, hit him everything you got and you better not mess up!" Kane ordered, pulling back his fist. Rio nodded and flared up his aura as much as he could. Kane turned to the two girls and motioned them to help. "Don't think you aren't gonna pull your weight either, cat!" Kane said before he socked the fox in the stomach. Eva and Minerva both ran in, slashing at the Zoroark's sides, bringing it to it's knees. Finally, Rio slammed his palm as hard as he possibly could into it's back. The fox hit the ground hard, it's aura dissipating and revealing Kora.

Exhausted and sore, Eva and Minerva both fall on their backs. After a minute or so, they both start laughing.

"What's so funny?" Kane asked.

"I'm just laughing so I don't focus on how much pain I'm in. I took like, two direct hits pointblank. Probably gonna need a whole lotta rest." Eva replied.

"Yea, I'm gonna have to pass on trainin tomorrow. I can barely even feel my legs right now." Minerva added.

"How about we wait for someone else to come and help Kora up? I'm not really in the right condition to lift that fox." Rio suggested, plopping down on his butt next to Minerva. "I mean, there was like, five explosions since I got here. Someone else was _bound_ to hear a couple of them."

The four rested for about five minutes before they noticed that Kora was making noises. Rio and Kane got back up, expecting the fox to fight again. Instead, Kora just popped his head up and stared confusedly at the four other Pokémon.

"Where... am I?" The fox asked, getting up and dusting himself off. He looked at each of the others, wondering why they were staring at him like they've seen a ghost. "Is something on my face?"

"You're not... hurt or anything. Right?" Rio asked. Kora stretched out his body a bit before responding.

"Nope. Nothing except this crick in my neck. Why?"

"Pretty sure we blew you up a few times. You went berserk again." Rio replied, motioning to Minerva and Eva. "If Kane and I didn't show up, you'd probably have hurt these two more."

Kora paused for a moment. He'd lost it, again. He hurt someone again. Rio could feel the emotions swelling up inside of Kora, quickly looking to calm him.

"Hey, I wasn't you're fault Kora. You've been kinda missing for a while, and honestly if I got lost around here myself, I'd _definitely_ go mad." The Outlander said, hoping it would atleast distract the fox from whatever it was he was going to worry over.

"Missing? How the hell did you lose him? He's basically a giant red bush." Kane asked mockingly.

"I don't know. Jax said you left and he's been trying to find you ever since." Rio explained.

"Exactly how long was I gone?" Kora asked, expecting a small answer like maybe a few hours or something.

"About two days, I think." The Outlander replied.

"A-and did my mom find out?" Kora gulped.

"I don't think so. Jax didn't even want me and Minerva finding out so I doubt he told her." The Zoroark let out a big sigh of relief, thankful that he won't get in trouble with her.

After the group rested a while longer and nobody showed up, they decided it would be best to leave. Being the least damaged of the five, Kora and Kane lifted Minerva and Eva respectively while Rio followed behind. No one really knew where they currently were, so they planned on going in a straight line and getting lucky. The forests on Sunset Valley were quite large, and despite living on the island for a good portion of their lives, none of them ever explored this deep into them on purpose. There weren't any paths, and since every tree looked the same it was difficult to figure out if they had walked in circles or not.

 _/Sunset Beach, Almost Two Hours Later/_

Several arguments and disagreements about directions later, Kora, Kane, Minerva, Eva, and Rio finally made it to the beautiful shores of Sunset Beach. Rio gleefully fell face first into the sand, ecstatic to feel the soft, warm sand in his paws instead of the dirt and leaves of the forest. It was like being wrapped in a freshly dried blanket, except now he's going to need a bath to get the blanket out of his fur. Each of the five decided to enjoy the sun and sand before going back to the Square, however Minerva made sure to keep her distance from Kane. As grateful as she is for him helping to save her, she doesn't want any more to do with him until she can pay him back for what he's done to her.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna go to sleep right _here_." Rio said, already with most of his body buried in the sand.

"Go right on ahead fluffy, I'll join ya. Today's been all over the freakin place and I wanna pass out." Minerva stated, laying over where Rio's back would be. They two quickly dozed off, leaving Kora with Kane and Eva. Much like Minerva, Kora wanted little to do with Kane, aside from watching him get the snot beat out of him at the end of the month. Still, he owes Kane one after helping Rio and Minerva.

"Don't bother." Kane said before Kora could thank him, surprising the fox. "I know how you two work, you were gonna thank me for saving your skins. Don't bother, I only helped because Eva needed my help. Besides, why would I want the thanks of a Halfbreed like you anyway?" The Scrafty stood and turned away from the others.

"I'm out, see ya later E." Kane said as he walked off. After the Dark-Fighting type was out of earshot, Kora turned to Eva.

"How can you _stand_ that guy?! Even when he saves someone's _life_ he's a prick to them!" Kora exclaimed, sing sure not to wake his two friends.

"He's... not as bad as he makes himself out to be." Eva responded.

"Are you saying he's mean on _purpose?_ Like, he just decided to be the world biggest prick one day?" Kora asked sarcastically.

"It's complicated. Just cut him some slack." The Zangoose responded.

"Cut him some slack? Like when he went off on Minerva for no reason? Or just know, when he denied my thanks before I could even _say it?_ "

"I... he... it's not, completely like that! I mean, that not what... GAHH! Whatever!"Eva held onto whatever she was going to say and left. She didn't know why she was trying to defend Kane against one of the Pokémon who hates him anyway. He was her friend, not theirs, so why should it matter if they don't like him?

Kora laid back in the sand, staring into the sky and listening to his friends snore and the waves hit the shore. Before any thought could cloud his mind, he figured it would be best if he slept a little bit and tried to piece things together later. The warmth of the sun and sand made dozing of much easier than if he was in that oddly cold forest. He'd have to explore it whenever he can, maybe he can find why he was out there in the first place. Maybe.

/ _End Of Chapter_ /


	10. How Many Halves in a Whole?

_Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any other referenced media in this story_

/ _The Land of Rebirth/_

The trees had gotten much taller and their foliage much thicker since Rio's last arrival. The leaves now red and orange, giving the area a warm colored light as the Outlander walked through the woods. Ryan wasn't anywhere near Rio when he woke, so the only option he had was to search for him. As the Outlander made his way through the forest, the faintest sound of voices started behind him. Actually, they were coming from all around. Probably not a good sign. Rio eventually made it to the clearing with the stump in the middle, along with Ryan and Third.

"Ah, speak of the devil." Ryan said, waving Rio over.

"Hey guys! What'd I miss?" The Outlander asked. Third cleared his throat.

"Something has happened. As you both can see, the trees getting more and more troublesome as of late. I'm afraid that this place will soon be hazardous for the both of you." Third explained. Ryan nodded and crossed his arms.

"Yeah, I was pretty sure we _weren't_ supposed to get chased outta here last time. What are we supposed to do if we can't come back?" The Lucario asked, which reminded Rio of something.

"Actually, what _are_ we doing? You said this is the Land of Rebirth, but all that did was confuse me more." Rio chimed in. Third sighed, hopping off the stump and floating in front of the two.

"I guess now's as good a time as any to get you both informed about this place. I'll try and keep the complexities out, for Rio's sake." Third said. Ryan and Rio stepped in closer and listened.

"The Land of Rebirth does what the name implies. Any Pokémon that comes here will be born anew, be them Purebred or Outlander. In the case of Rebirthing an Outlander, more specifically one with a pre-existing body, the body's old soul and the soul of the Outlander will be forced to either cast the other out, or join together entirely. Having two souls in one vessel is dangerous, so the inhabitants of this Land try to help the two souls reach a decision as quickly as possible."

"Hold on, back that up a bit. Are we dead?" Ryan asked, getting a nod from Third.

"Very dead, in fact. I know that death is a difficult thing to comprehend for you, my apologies." Third answered.

"Ok, so we're both dead. Then, who's body are we in? Or trying to get in..?" Rio asked, getting a surprised expression from Ryan.

"How are you already passed the fact that we are _dead?!?_ " The Lucario yelled. Rio shrugged.

"Shouldn't it be obvious? There's only one _Pokémon_ here that's dead." Third replied. The other two paused for a second to figure it out. After realizing who's body they were inhabiting, Rio and Ryan crossed their arms and frowned.

"You coulda just told us, Third. Sarcastic prick." Ryan scolded the Pokémon before him. Third giggled and floated around the two.

"Oh please, am I not allowed to a _little_ bit of fun every now and then?" The Pokémon asked. Rio shook his head.

"Didn't you _just_ say that something bad was happening here? I don't think now is the time for fun." Rio pointed out. The other Pokémon sighed and sank down to the floor.

"Yes, you're absolutely right. Forgive me..." Third apologized. "Before it slips my mind, have you yet to remember your real name, Ryan?" The Pokémon asked. The Lucario shook his head and shrugged.

"Not a clue. Why?"

"One of the ways to know when the two souls are ready is when the original Pokémon's soul remembers some of the most important things to them, and usually, one of those things is their name. That is why we've been showing you past memories whenever you arrive." Third explained. The Lucario gritted his teeth and gripped his arms.

"Damn. How could I forget my own name?" He said angrily to himself. Rio put his hand on Ryan's shoulder to comfort him.

"Do not be so upset at yourself, almost every Pokémon forgets their name after their death. It would actually be rather strange if you _did_ remember your name after how long it's been since you passed away." Ryan stared at Third with worry drenched over his face.

"H-how long..?" He asked, growing more fearful of the answer every passing moment. Third covered his mouth, realizing that he might've said too much. The Pokémon frantically shook his head no instead of replying. Ryan grew more terrified of what the answer might be.

"How long have I been dead, Third!!" Ryan yelled, making the small Pokémon float away from him.

"I-I can't tell you yet! I wasn't supposed to even _say_ your were dead until you remembered your fami-!" Third quickly covered his mouth again, but it was too late.

"I HAVE A FAMILY!?!" Ryan yelled before falling to his knees. He stayed there for a while before Rio realized he was sobbing. "I-I had... a family..."

Rio went to put his arm around Ryan's shoulder, instead getting tightly hugged around the chest by the Lucario. The jackal smothered his face in Rio's chest, quietly crying. Third floated back, visibly disappointed in himself. The Outlander was surprised at how quickly things turned sour, and tried to remedy the situation.

"Since you have access to his memories, why don't we find a good one to lighten the mood or something?" Rio asked Third. The small Pokémon nodded and sat on the stump.

"Alright. I'll try." Third replied.

The Pokémon sat there for a moment before a opaque bubble surrounded all three of them. After a few seconds of nothing, the bubble popped to show that the three were in a different location. More specifically, they were _heading_ to a new location. The three had appeared on a large wooden boat out on the ocean. It was dark, but the sky was clear and the sea was calm. On deck were two other Pokémon, a Weavile and a Lucario, the same one from all the other memories. The two were laying on the floor and staring at the sky. As soon as Ryan let go of Rio and realized they were out to sea, and also noticed the two other Pokémon, his face lit up slightly.

"Frost..." He said, a smile trying to appear on his face. The three went closer to hear what Frost and the Lucario were saying.

"So this _is_ you're ship, ain't it? Color me impressed, Frost." The Lucario said.

"Please, do ya really think I own this lil dinghy? _My_ ship would smash this piece of junk into pieces!" Frost boasted. The Lucario snickered and cleared his throat.

"My my, is my little brother trying to have his ship make up for his own _short_ comings?" The Lucario said, trying not to laugh while he said it. Frost jumped to his feet and glared at the Lucario angrily.

"I'M OLDER THAN YOU, TWERP!!! And your dumb ass jokes have gotten old!" Frost yelled.

"C'mon Frosty, why the _short_ temper? I thought you'd be the _bigger_ man about such _small_ quips." The Lucario said through snickers. The Weavile stomped on the deck, almost literally fuming.

"Make one more short joke and I swear you're goin overboard!" Frost threatened the jackal, who obviously had another joke waiting to be let out but was too busy keeping himself from laughing to say it.

"Don't be such a twig in the mud, it's not my fault my jokes easily go over your head!" The Lucario finally let out, before being tackled by the Weavile and pinned to the floor.

"You're such a prick, ya twerp!" Frost said. The Lucario laughed.

"You gotta pick one, buddy. I'm no scientist but I don't think I can be a prick _and_ a twerp." The jackal said sarcastically.

"Actually, you're the exception. Congrats, twerp." Frost said. A moment paused before either said anything, and it was _really_ starting to feel awkward.

"So are you gonna get off of me, or do you enjoy being on top?" The Lucario said. "I mean, you _are_ dangerously close to my chest spike. Unless you're into that sorta thing." Frost blushed and quickly jumped away from the Lucario. The jackal getting a good kick out of it.

"Man, you've always been so easy to pick on. Which is strange because you're also the scariest out of the three of us." The Lucario said, sitting next to Frost. The shorter Pokémon shrugged.

"I dunno, maybe it's genetic. My little girl _does_ have the habit of throwin people when they try and pick on her. One time, I tried callin her Minnie and she picked up a table and slammed it on my head! The girl's got some strength." Frost said, smiling as he told the Lucario.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I was training with Koraza the other day and he got a really good bite on me! Look!" The Lucario showed his right arm to Frost, revealing a bite mark on it. "It hasn't even _started_ to heal! Isn't that cool!"

Frost chuckled, softly punching the Lucario in the arm. "So the only thing to hurt the invincible twerp is a child's maw? Ya better not piss of any more children, Ori." Frost joked, getting a chuckle from the Lucario. However, that smile and laughter faded and was replaced with a more worrisome attitude.

"I'm scared for him, Frost. I mean, I'm glad that the experiment worked, but I feel like I might've just thrown my son into something he isn't ready for." The Lucario said solemnly. Frost patted his brother on the back.

"He's your kid, I don't think there's a thing on the planet that'll keep him down, if he's anythin like ya. Besides, it's not like ya could've just, turned it off. It's been a part of you for ages, it only makes sense that some of it got passed down into your kid. But if he turns out _exactly_ like ya and pisses everyone off, I'll watch over him." Frost reassured the jackal. The Lucario smiled and hugged the Weavile with his left arm.

"Geez, how are ya such a softy? You're as cocky as they come, but ya sure as hell worry a lot." Frost said, hugging the Lucario back.

"I dunno, maybe it's genetic." He said. The two chuckled a little before laying back down and gazing at the stars. Frost and the Lucario went on talking about other, much less important, things. Rio, Ryan and Third were already planning on leaving, so they didn't pay either of them any mind. A bubble appeared around the three Pokémon, and the memory started to fade into a splash of blue and purple before the bubble popped, and the trio had arrived at the land of Rebirth.

"I hope that memory put your mind at ease, it was quite enjoyable." Third said to Ryan. The Pokémon realized that Ryan shed a few tears, but not of sadness. "Perhaps that memory meant more to you than I first thought."

"He's my... brother." Ryan said, wiping the tear from his cheek. The Lucario placed his paw over his heart and smiled.

"Wow, you're brother must've meant a lot to you, Ryan. I think this is the first time I've seen you smile!" Rio joked. Ryan laughed a little, wiping another tear from his cheek.

"Maybe it is..." Ryan's smile faded as he looked at Third with a serious expression.

"Y-Yes Lord R-Ryan?" Third stuttered, visibly shrinking under the Lucario's gaze.

"How long does would it take for us to merge our souls together?" Ryan asked firmly.

"M-Maybe a day or two. It would take a substantial amount of focus and energy, so the body would most likely be asleep for that amount of time. But if the two of you learned every memory important to the body, it could cut that time in half." Third replied, scratching it's head.

"How bad would it be if the two of us stayed seperate but in the same body?" Rio asked, getting a serious look from Third.

"Unless the both of you were already compatible in every way, the body would go mad and there would be a risk of losing both souls to that madness. In fact, if the two of you merged without being compatible, the same thing might happen. That is the reason we show the body's memories _and_ why it would take so much energy and focus to merge the two souls without them." The Pokémon answered.

Rio and Ryan looked at each other, then back at Third.

"How do we know if we're compatible or not?" They both asked. Third thought for a moment before answering.

"You wouldn't, not until after the both of you merged. If the two of you liked each other, there would be a chance that you're still incompatible, but even if you were both polar opposites and despised one another, you might still be compatible enough to merge. Even if the two of you learned _every_ memory stored in the body, that isn't a guarantee that you will be able to successfully combine your souls." The Pokémon explained. The Lucario and the Outlander sighed and crossed their arms.

"Then... what would we need to do to expel the other soul?" Rio asked, getting a surprised and worried reaction from Ryan and a frown from Third.

"That's the equivalent of one of you killing the other. The rejected soul would disappear for good, forever bound to the infinite and forgotten. In other words, you _don't_ want to do that." Third told Rio. Ryan didn't say anything, still shocked at what Rio asked and the answer he received.

"What if I just wanted to kick myself out? Give Ryan his body back?" Rio asked, this time shocking Third.

"Y-You would subject yourself to being entirely forgotten? To be torn from the world of the living _and_ the dead??? Rio... what you're asking me is-"

"This isn't my body. The fact that we're trying to get into Ryan's body just means that mine's is probably destroyed or worse. That means that _my_ life and _my_ family are gone for good. But Ryan," The Outlander looked at the Lucario beside him and smiled, "Ryan still has a family. He has a brother who probably mourned his death, and a wife who surely misses him dearly, and a son that grew up without him. He could have a second chance at living without becoming one with me. He can be _him_ again, but I won't be _me_ again."

The other two Pokémon remained speechless. Third had never heard of an Outlander who would willingly throw away their soul for a Pokémon, and Ryan couldn't remember the last time someone would give their life for him. Rio's expression didn't change, showing how genuine he was.

"Rio..." Ryan said, holding his head down. "Rio I can't let you do that for me." When the Lucario looked up, he was crying. "I won't let you get yourself forgotten." The Outlander stared at Ryan for a moment before shaking his head.

"I'll do it if I have to. It wouldn't be fair for me to take you're second chance to be with your family. Like I said, mine is already gone." Rio told the jackal.

"And I won't let you throw your own second chance away. Which is why I decided to-"

Ryan was cut off by the loud roar of some monstrous creature, deep in the forest. The ground started shaking and the sky grew dark. Third started frantically pushing the others into the opposite woods, a fearful look across his indistinguishable face.

"Oh no oh no oh no! You both must leave! There is no time, just go!!!" Third yelled. Rio and Ryan ran back to the first, small clearing with the last ray of sunlight in the center. Before the two departed, they nodded at each other and entered the light.

/ _Sunset Beach/_

Rio woke up to a wave crashing down on him and pulling him out to sea a bit. As he tried to stand, the weak sand under his paws were swept into the ocean by the pull of the waves, toppling over the Lucario. He was in chest high water before he was able to finally stabilize himself and breath. Groggy and soaked with saltwater, it took Rio a minute to get back to shore without falling back into the water. Waiting to greet the Outlander was Minerva, laughing her head off, and Kora, failing to stifle his own laughter.

"Gee guys, way to help me _not drown_ while I'm sleeping!" Rio said, shaking the water from his fur.

"To be f-fair, I was about to go in before you got yourself up. After like, the tenth flip I thought something was wrong." Kora said, failing to justify his inaction to the Lucario. In response, Rio flared up his aura, grabbed Kora's arm, and threw him as far into the water as he could. The fox landed just about where Rio was able to stand. Minerva stopped her laughter the moment Kora hit the water. The Outlander gave the Meowth a sinister smile.

"H-hey Rio, buddy, pal, friend o' mine! What say we, uhh..." The cat was quickly silenced by Rio holding her above his head, and chucking her right at Kora. The two collided and the impact created a huge splash in the water. After a half a minute passed, the fox and cat duo washed up on shore. Reluctantly, Rio helped the two Pokémon to their feet.

"Do ya feel better, furball?" Minerva asked sarcastically, shaking sand and water from her fur. Rio shrugged.

"A little bit. Maybe I should do it again, you know, for good measure." The Lucario replied with a grin.

"It's gonna take me ages to get all the sand outta my fur, if you throw me in again I swear I'll actually blow you up." Kora stated. Rio stuck out his tongue and crossed his arms.

"Now that we've each been thoroughly soaked in salt and sand, shouldn't we probably head back to Zeke and the others? I don't think they know we found you yet." The Outlander pointed out.

"Speakin of findin' Kora, what happened to Eva and her meathead friend?" Minerva asked, knocking some sand out of her ear. Kora sucked his teeth and sighed.

"Kane left and Eva followed him right after you guys went to sleep. Why does it matter?" Kora told his two friends.

"I'm just askin. I don't like either of 'em that much, but that doesn't mean I don't wanna know if they're alright." The Meowth replied. The trio went back to Sunset Square, chatting about how their first few days of training went. Minerva bragged about how she was able to lift Nate overhead with ease, Rio went on about his knowledge of Pokémon types and how much more fit he already was, and Kora spoke about how hungry he was.

"I feel like I haven't eaten in days. My stomach's _killing_ me!" The Zoroark complained.

"Do ya think the Bakery's open? Maybe we can get the twerp a pie before he starts whinin'." Minerva said. As the group arrived at the square and entered the Bakery tent, they were surprised to see Nate and Zeke walking out at the same time with crumbs on their faces and several goody-bags in their claws. The two mentors froze, seeing the anger grow in Minerva and Rio.

"What the hell-" Rio started, clenching his paws and flaring his aura.

"ARE THE TWO OF YA DOIN EATING PASTRIES!?!" Minerva finished, positively fuming. Kora stepped back outside, not wanting _anything_ to do with what might happen.

"We spent all morning trying to find Kora, and the second we get back **YOU'RE STUFFING YOUR FACES?!?** " The two furious Pokémon yelled. Nate stuttered and stammered but couldn't get any words out, while Zeke tried to keep his cool and respond.

"W-we, uh, we figured out that the two of you already found Kora, s-so we wanted to buy you guys s-some pies to celebrate. Right, Nate?" Zeke managed to say. Nate frantically nodded his head.

"Y-Y-Yeah! These are for you guys!!!" The Feraligtr spat out, handing one of the bags over to the literally-on-fire Pokémon in front of him. Unfortunately, Rio and Minerva didn't fall for it for a second. Instead of reaching for the bag, Minerva grabbed Nate's arm tightly and lifted him over her head, Rio doing the same to Zeke.

"W-Wait! We aren't lying, these are for you guys!!!" Zeke exclaimed, unable to free himself from Rio's hold. Kora stepped to the side when his friends walked out, waving hello to the two older Pokémon above them.

"P-Please don't throw us! We're sorry!!!" Nate begged. Minerva and Rio readied themselves to hurl their masters as far as possible.

"Oh, you're gonna be!!! Honestly, the both of ya _really_ piss me off!" Minerva shouted, throwing Nate as far above her as she could.

"How could the both of you be so lazy! I bet you didn't even look for Kora!" Rio said, his aura flaring up.

"N-No we did!!! Rio you gotta believe meeee!!!" Zeke tried to say as he was thrown upwards with Nate. When they finally stopped ascending, they could barely make out Minerva or Kora on the ground, but could easily spot Rio from his aura. Nate and Zeke screamed and cried as they plummeted back to earth. It didn't take long for them to crash into the dirt, face down and unconscious. The goody-bags landed soon after, with their contents being mostly crushed or, at the very least, smooshed. It's fair to say that the pastries were more well off than their buyers.

"Remind me to _never_ piss the both of you off at the same time." Kora said with a laugh, taking a few of the goody-bags and sitting beside the fallen Pokémon. Minerva and Rio, now much more calm, decided to do the same.

"If tellin ya not to piss me off worked, I'd know it wasn't the real you. It's one of the things you're best at, twerp." Minerva replied, happily eating some demolished Pecha Berry Pie. While the trio ate their fill, Rio realized that someone was oddly absent throughout the day. He couldn't but his finger on it, but the Outlander knew that something or someone was missing.

"It might just be me, but isn't there supposed to be someone else here?" The Lucario asked, swallowing the last of his crushed pastries. Kora and Minerva thought for a minute, or maybe finishing whatever they had in their mouths, before the replied.

"Now that ya mention it... where's the Muscle Head?" Minerva stood up and dusted the crumbs and dust from her body as she spoke. Each of the still conscious Pokémon sighed deeply and got to their feet. For their day off of training, Minerva and Rio were doing a whole lotta of things and hardly any of them were relaxing.

Before they left to find Jax, Rio made sure that Zeke and Nate were still breathing. Carefully pulling the pokemon out of the ground and planting them on their backs, Rio was greeted to the both of them snoring. Somehow, no one was surprised.

/ _Half an Hour Later, Near the Hot Springs/_

Having no idea where Jax could have went, (and also not having any drive left to actually _look_ ) Rio and Minerva suggest that they head towards the Springs to see if he was taking a break from his search. He _has_ been looking for his trainee for almost two days now, surely he would take a break every now and then. Maybe they'll be lucky and catch him trying to relax (and join him).

"Honestly, I would believe that logic more if the two of you weren't grinning so much." Kora said, making his two friends clear their throats and try to act serious. It didn't last long. The moment they felt the heat coming from the springs, the jackal and cat nearly melted. Kora groaned, but decided to keep following the two anyway. Who knows, maybe their luck shines the brightest when they're not doing anything productive.

Only minutes away from the paradise of the springs the group stopped. There was a lot of commotion coming from the springs: water splashing and the sound of attacks hitting each other. The feline groaned, a fight being the last thing she wanted or needed now.

"Can't we have a day where someone _isn't_ fightin' someone else? I'm gettin' tired of all these fights!" She complained, promptly getting shushed by Rio and Kora. As quietly as possible, the three snuck into one of the bushes near the Springs. Sure enough, a fight was going on, much to Minerva's dismay.

The first fighter was Zen, the _other_ Pokémon that was oddly absent. The second was a Pokémon none of the three had seen before. It was a mouse looking Pokémon with soft, yellow fur, long ears, and a tail in the shape of a lightening bolt with a heart on the end. Oh what a mysterious Pokémon, how will anyone possibly figure out what it is? On a different note, Jax was laying on the ground with tiny sparks of electricity coming off of him. It's not easy to say if this was a stroke of good or bad luck, or both.

"Ok, so I guess you two were right after all." Kora stated, watching the fight between Zen and the Pikachu.

"This fight looks pretty even, should we join?" Rio asked.

"Why not? The sooner this fight ends, the sooner we get into those heavenly springs!" Minerva replied, bearing her claws. With a quick nod, the trio started to exit the bush when a loud scream froze them. They ducked back down and saw Zen on the floor, struggling to stand up.

"It's a shame, Bisharp. You got some get power behind your attacks, but I guess there's only so much you can do with such slow attacks." The Pikachu said, sparking as she approached the kneeling Pokémon.

"M-My name is Zen." The Dark-Steel Type said weakly.

"I never asked for a name. Maybe you would care if you weren't standing on such a high horse." The Pikachu stated.

"Bite me." Zen spat out. The Electric Mouse laughed, now right in front of Zen.

"Maybe if you played nice." The electricity sparking around the Pikachu started expanding, which seemed like a really bad sign for Zen. As if his body moved on his own, Rio quickly got between the two fighting Pokémon stuck his right arm out at the Pikachu.

"Leave him alone." Rio said firmly, his aura already flared. Zen chuckled and fell to the side, getting caught in Kora's arms. The mouse glared at the jackal for interrupting her attack before she even said it's name, but was impressed at the same time.

"Looks like the cavalry arrived in the nick of time." The Pikachu said, something about her not sitting well with Rio. He remained silent but was ready to fight, glaring at the mouse. The Pikachu laughed at Rio's seriousness. "Why so tense, kid? He isn't your friend or anything, is he? Maybe you're here for the tough guy over there?"

"I'm only going to ask you once. Leave, before I make you." The Outlander's tone surprised everyone that heard it, including himself. The mouse dropped her cocky nature, annoyed that _another_ Pokémon showed up thinking that they're so tough.

"Is this side of the island just a breeding ground for cocky pricks? Tell ya what, how about you _make_ me leave?" The Pikachu said, sparking brightly. Rio's aura flared up differently than it normally does. Instead of having the appearance of flames emanating from his body, it was much more controlled and compacted. It looked more like a solid glow than a raging fire.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, Sparky." Rio said confidently. The yellow rodent fired a Thunderbolt at Rio, which fizzled our as it hit his dense aura.

"How the..." The Pikachu started to say, being rudely interrupted by Rio jumping above her. The Outlander slammed both of his arms down, missing the mouse and cracking the ground below him. The Pikachu jumped a good distance away from Rio, but the moment she landed he was right in her face again. The Electric Mouse evaded as quickly as she could, jumping into the air. Unfortunately for the Outlander, he was going too fast for his own sake and ran into a tree.

"Reckless, cocky, _and_ stupid? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're a copy of- AAAAH!!!" The mouse was hit with a Dark Pulse from below. She had carelessly jumped over Zen, who grinned as the rodent fell to the ground from his attack.

"How's that... for too slow?" He said, getting to his feet. Kora and Minerva helped Rio out of the tree and got themselves ready to fight as well.

"Sneaky bastard. Here I thought you had enough electricity in you to make you an Electric-Type." The Pikachu said, rubbing her side. She grinned when she noticed the four Pokémon preparing to oppose her. "Four against one? I knew you lot were arrogant, but cheaters? At least it's _fair_ now."

"You're calling _us_ arrogant? Maybe we'll knock some sense back into you, Sparky." The Outlander replied, ready to fight again. The Pikachu sucked her teeth and got on all fours.

"Call me Sparky again, see where that gets you." She said, her own aura flaring instead of electricity, not that you'd easily be able to see the difference. With incredibly speed, the Pikachu Volt Tackled Zen, knocking him into Kora and shocking them both. Rio tried attacking her again, thrusting his palm out to hit her, but the mouse dodged the attack easily. Before he could move again, the Pikachu grabbed his arm and threw him into Kora and Zen. As soon as the mouse's back was turned, Minerva grabbed her tail and started spinning her around before throwing her up above the trees. The group tried to get themselves back together before their opponent landed, but they must have forgotten that they're fighting an Electric Pokémon with long-ranged attacks.

With little notice, the four Pokémon were battered with Thunderbolts from above. The assault knocked Zen out of the fight, the paralysis effect being too much for him. After landing, the Pikachu quickly tackled Minerva and fired another Thunderbolt at Kora. Rio was fast enough to block the attack on Kora and knelt down, letting the fox jump into the air off his back. Minerva was able to nearly match the Pikachu's speed, swiping and slashing at her opponent with no avail but at least keeping her distracted. The mouse eventually bumped into a tree, funnily enough it was the same one Rio ran into, and Minerva was finally able to attack the Pikachu. Grabbing the Electric-Type's body tightly, Minerva threw her back with all her might, right at the Zoroark.

"Get a load of this! Dark Pulse!" Kora exclaimed, blasting the mouse with a darker Pulse than usual. The attack was met with a powerful Thunderbolt, exploding on impact and sending the two aerial Pokémon away. Kora landed in one of the springs, while the Pikachu landed gracefully on the ground.

"Phew! You kids are a pretty great workout. Maybe I should come around here more often!" The rodent mocked the three, only really irratating Rio however. The Lucario charged down the mouse, swinging his left arm downwards. When his opponent predictably jumped to the left to dodge, Rio pushed off the ground to hit the Pikachu with back, stunning her for a moment. Minerva jumped over Rio and Slashed at the mouse, sending her towards the springs.

"How's this for a workout?" Kora asked, slamming the mouse with an Incinerate directly to the side. When the smoke cleared, much to the Zoroark's dismay, the Pikachu was mostly unaffected. Similar to Rio's aura, the Pikachu's aura was strong enough to negate, or at least weaken, the damage of Kora's attack. As if to anger Kora more, the mouse dusted off her shoulders and turned away from the fox.

"You're right, kid. That was more of a massage." She said, stretching _just_ to piss him off more. Kora pounced at the Pikachu, too angry to realize he fell for her bait, and got hit with a Thunderbolt at point-blank range. The electricity was strong enough on its own, but Kora's water-soaked fur nearly doubled the damage he took.

"Kora!!!" Minerva and Rio yelled, their short moment of worry being stopped by more electricity. The Pikachu hit Minerva with a Thunderbolt, sending the cat back several feet. For Rio, the Pikachu struck his head directly with a few Thunderbolts, dazing the Lucario, and rushed in to attack him directly. Before the Outlander could reorientate himself, he was hit in the gut with a surprisingly powerful punch, knocking him to his knees.

"Iron Tail!" The Pikachu exclaimed, striking Rio in the side of his head with her iron encased tail. Rio's aura dissipated as his body hit Kora's and they both were knocked into the spring.

"It's about time we finished this massage session then. Thunder!!!" The Pikachu said, raising both arms to the sky. A menacing, dark grey cloud appeared above the spring, overflowing with electricity. Kora and Rio started to panic and couldn't get out of the water before the Thunder activated.

" **NOOOOO!!!** " Minerva shouted, sprinting over to the spring and leaping above Kora and Rio. Whatever her plan was, Minerva was struck with the full force of the attack. For a whole ten seconds, Minerva was taking the Thunder head on, before falling into the water. There was so much excess electricity that the feline's body gave off sparks after the attack finished.

"And then there was two." The Pikachu said, her aura sparking up. Rio and Kora ignored her, lifting Minerva out of the water and placing her near Jax. The two paused for a moment before turning to the Pikachu.

"I told you to leave." Rio said coldly. His aura was darker than before and remained dense and close to his body.

"You _really_ shouldn't have done that." Kora told the Pikachu. A menacing black aura started emanating from the Halfbreed. The sudden change in attitude and tone signaled danger to the Pikachu, not knowing whether or not she'll regret letting this battle go on for so long. Another major red flag was the fact that she couldn't just see their auras, but she could almost _feel_ them. The mouse might've learned enough about Aura to control her's and see others, but she has  never felt another aura before.

Kora almost instantly appeared in front of the Pikachu, slashing with bright red claws at her. Whenever she moved to dodge, Kora would react in just the right way to _almost_ hit her. Whenever he planned for it or not, the Pikachu jumped too high for her to move out of the way of any more attacks. Kora slammed his arm into the small Pokémon's side and sending a small pulse into her, sending the mouse towards Rio. The Lucario didn't move, but the Pikachu could sense something happening. Rio didn't react until his opponent was less than a meter away from him, lowering his body and plant both paws on either side. When the Electric-Type was directly in front of him, Rio kicked upwards with great force directly into the Pikachu's back. As the mouse was sent skyward, Rio and Kora stood where she would land, staring blankly up at her. The fox and jackal stood ready to attack her the moment she was in range.

'Not bad. I actually felt that kick.' The Pikachu thought to herself as she fell. Before she reached the top of the trees, the Electric Mouse cloaked herself with intense electricity. When mere seconds away from the two attacking Pokémon, the Pikachu sent two highly compressed bolts of electricity into both of them. Rio and Kora were instantly inflicted with heavy paralysis, neither capable of moving an inch. The most they could do was fall to their hands and knees.

"What is up with you kids sending me to the sky? None of you look like you could have done anything while I was up there, so all you did was give me room to breathe." The Pikachu told the two. She dusted her shoulders and rolled her shoulders. "If you thought more during the fight instead of only trying to hit me, you probably would have had a better chance at beating me. Just like your uppity friend, the amount of pure strength behind your attacks is nothing to scoff at, but if all you think about is solely attacking, you might as well be useless."

With his anger subsided and his mind back with his body, Rio managed to force himself to stand on two feet, before falling back to a knee.

"Y-You're not too sh-shabby yourself, Sparky." He said, panting heavily. The Pikachu smiled and turned away from the Outlander.

"Hmph. If I needed to know I was good, I wouldn't come to some fledgling who can't even fight properly. Maybe your bird-brained mentor can teach you something useful when he's conscious again." The Electric-Type told Rio.

"How d-do you know..." Rio was straining himself just to speak, the paralysis starting to overcome him. The Pikachu turned to her head to him and grinned before jumping into the trees and leaving. Shortly after her leaving, Rio finally collapsed.

/ _Several Hours Later, Jax's Training Field/_

Kora was the first one awake, confused about how he had showed up here. All he remembered was seeing Minerva take a powerful Thunder directly and falling in the Spring afterwards. Whatever damage he took from the Pikachu caught up to him when he tried to stand, some of the paralysis still in his system. The Zoroark noticed Zen, Jax, and his two friends nearby, unconscious and sparking but still very much alive. Rio has his aura faintly surrounding him, and Minerva had a kind of glow to her.

Initially, Kora thought that Zeke and Nate had brought them here, but they were no where to be found. The only other conscious Pokémon around was... another Zoroark. The Pokémon laid on his back, one leg on the other leg's knee, his paws behind his head, and he stared into the evening sky.

"Wh-Who are..." Kora could barely speak, the paralysis seemed to gain its strength back. The Halfbreed breathed heavily and sat back down.

"You still have a ton of electricity inside you. Try not to move too much, and keep your body on the ground." The other Zoroark said. Kora listened, although he was planning on laying on the ground anyway. "For convenience sake, you can call me Z."

"I've never... seen you on the island before." Kora replied. His body _really_ didn't want him talking right now, every sound that escaped his maw took a lot of energy out of him.

"I'm... new. Came here earlier today. Guess it was fate that brought me here to help you." Z replied, pulling a Lum Berry from his mane. "Eat this. It'll help you heal quicker." Z tossed the berry into Kora's paw, who was reluctant to trust the stranger.

"How l-long have I b-been out?" Kora asked, biting into the green berry. It tasted vaguely familiar, not good but familiar none the less. Z pointed up at the stars before answering.

"You tell me. It's basically night time, so you can figure that out yourself." The Zoroark stood up and tossed four more Lum Berries at Kora before starting to walk away.

"Make sure your friends eat those as soon as they can." Z told Kora, waving a goodbye and disappearing into the forest. Kora's paralysis finally faded, but his body was still mostly sore from the battle with that Pikachu. What's more, Kora didn't believe everything that Z said was completely true. From the looks of it, the two Zoroarks wouldn't cross paths anytime soon.

The sky grew dark much faster than Kora expected, but before the sun set, his friends finally woke up. Kora quickly gave the paralyzed Pokémon the Lum Berries he was left and helped each of them to their feet. Unfortunately, Minerva took a bit longer to get up. When the first few minutes passed, the others thought she would wake up any second. But more time passed, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, half an hour, and the feline didn't move. Kora started to worry, and to make matters worse, he wasn't able to hear her breathing because his mind was racing and was plagued with countless worrisome thoughts. The longer she took to wake, the more cluttered and unfocused Kora became. Almost an hour passed, and still nothing. Rio and Kora both sat in front of Minerva, waiting for her to move or say something. A snide remark about saving them, or a sarcastic complaint about having her take the Thunder by herself. Kora even wished she'd open an eye and laugh about how worried he looked.

Jax and Zen left the three alone, giving them some blankets and keeping the talking to a minimum. Almost a whole hour passed before Kora or Rio opened their mouths to speak.

"Can you still sense her aura?" Kora asked, turning his head towards the Lucario while keeping his eyes on Minerva. Rio shrugged.

"I can't tell what I'm seeing. I think that Pikachu messed up my head or something, because whenever I try to see aura, all I see is yellow." The Outlander replied. The two remained silent, keeping their focus on Minerva and hardly moving from their spots. You'd think you were looking at two statues in the dark of night.

It was pitch black out when Rio and Kora decided to sleep. They couldn't remember how much time passed, but their already weakened bodies could. Kora curled up around Minerva, making sure her head wasn't covered by anything and giving her enough space to move if she woke up in the middle of the night. Rio laid right next to the fox, making sure he was able to still able to see the feline before going to sleep. The two boys hoped to rise in the morning to good news of Minerva's well-being.


	11. The Start to a Strange Day

_Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or any other referenced media in this story_

/ _The Next Morning, Training Field/_

Despite his efforts, Kora hardly slept. The fox was filled with worry and grief, the thought of his friend's injury being his own fault echoing over and over in his head. Before the sun rose, Kora checked up on Minerva, who was still curled up with him and unconscious. At the very least she was breathing, easing some of the worry away from the Halfbreed.

Shortly after Kora arose, so did Rio, yawning and stretching a few feet away. The night was rough on the Outlander as well, his dreams littered with strange places he's never been and Pokémon he's never seen. It was almost enough for him to forget about Minerva's condition, up until he saw her again. For some reason, Rio's aura sense was still fried and all he saw was yellow.

"How's your aura sense, thing?" Kora asked, making sure Minerva was wrapped up snug.

"Perfect, if everyone's aura turned yellow and staticy. How're you feeling?" Rio replied, wrapping himself back up and shivering lightly.

"Right now? I'm wishing I could do something other than waiting. She's still breathing, and you think her aura's still _there,_ so I shouldn't be worrying so much... right?" The Zoroark asked. Rio shrugged, sitting himself closer to his friends.

"I'm just as worried as you are, and maybe a little angry at myself for letting this whole thing happen." Rio said with a sigh.

"Honestly, we both acted like idiots back there. When she wakes up, we won't be able to hear the end of it." The two chuckled for a bit, eventually deciding to go inside the gym to escape the cold. Kora lifted Minerva up in his arms and walked behind Rio as they entered the tent.

No one else was in the gym, surprisingly. In fact, it didn't look like anyone stayed the night in there. Stranger still was the fact that Rio couldn't sense anything nearby. It's not like everyone else decided to sleep somewhere _else_ for some reason, right? Neither of the boys could think of why the tent was so vacant, and decided the best thing to do was to look for someone.

It was much colder than yesterday, so they each grabbed a blanket and wore them as cloaks before leaving. The first thing they checked was Nick's shop, which was closed. Kora didn't want to call out for the Delibird and risk waking him, if he was there, that is. When the two checked the bakery, they were met with the same vacant silence as Nick's place. Obviously the large empty tent was still large and empty, and with no other places to check in the square, Rio and Kora left to the beach.

As time passed, more clouds filled the sky and the temperature started gradually dropping. In order to keep his unconscious friend warm, Kora tried to heat his arms up with an Incinerate without actually firing the attack.

"D-Does it always get s-so c-c-cold this time of y-year?" Rio asked through chattering teeth, wrapping himself up as tight as he could.

"I mean, it's gotten cold before, but I don't think it's gotten this cold _this_ quickly." Kora responded, holding Minerva a bit tighter. For a split second, Kora could have sworn he saw the cat start to smile.

As expected, the beach wasn't much warmer. Atleast the sand felt nicer than the dirt and grass of the rest of the island. Kora and Rio walked for a while before encountering Eva, all alone at the shore. She was shivering, not as much as Rio was, and staring out to sea. The Zangoose didn't notice either of the two Pokémon approach her until they spoke up.

"Why are you sitting out in the cold? Did something happen?" Rio asked. He tried to sense her aura, hoping whatever was messing with him earlier wore off. It worked, revealing the melancholy feeling that shrouded over Eva. The Normal-Type jumped a little before turning to the Lucario beside her. She was about to respond to the Outlander when she noticed Kora holding Minerva in his arms.

"What happened to her?" The ferret-cat Pokémon asked. When neither of them answered, Eva frowned. "The two of you nitwits better not have gotten her hurt!" She scolded Rio and Kora.

"I-It's not like that! She's just... sleeping." Kora said, hoping he was right. Eva read the guilty expression on Kora's face clear as day, standing up and glaring at the fox and jackal.

"You're lying, aren't you?" Eva's tone was riding on a line between extremely worried and thoroughly pissed. It didn't help when she didn't get an answer. Rio sighed and took off his blanket off his head.

"We went to find Jax after you left us. When we found him at the Springs, there a Pikachu fighting Zen with Jax out cold. We fought her as hard as we could, but she overpowered Kora and me. The two of us were in one of the springs and she was going to hit us with a Thunder." Rio explained, clenching his paws and gritting his teeth.

"Minerva saved us, by taking the attack for us... she's been out since then." Kora finished. Eva crossed her arms and stepped closer to Kora.

"You just _let_ your friend take the hit for you, huh? No sudden burst of energy to save her, no attempt to make her stop." Eva got close to the Zoroark's face and poked him in the chest, "Honestly, Koraza, are you _trying_ to get her killed?" Rio was surprised by the Zangoose's insult, and even more so when Kora let her say it without talking back.

"E-Eva, I don't think he-" The Outlander tried to say before being shut up by Eva's paw.

"Or were you just too scared to do anything? This isn't the first time you let your 'friend' take a blow for you, and it doesn't look to be the last." The Zangoose said coldly.

"I-I never wanted either of those things to happen, Eva..." Kora said weakly. The fox's legs started to shake, and he thought his arms were being weighed down as he stood before the Normal-Type.

"Then you should have done something, Halfbreed." The Zangoose turned from the Zoroark, crossed her arms and started walking away. Rio just now realized the fickle nature of Eva's team. One minute it feels like everyone is good friends, but the next minute, it's entirely the opposite.

"... Eva, can you help me... please..?" Kora asked, holding his head down. Eva turned her head back to the two but didn't answer.

"Why should I? So you can get her in more danger? So you can let her take more attacks on your behalf?"

"Eva that's enough!" Rio said firmly, getting Eva and Kora's attention. The Lucario's aura flashed for a second and it almost seemed like his eyes glowed a brighter scarlet. "I don't know what your deal is with him, but he's trying to help his friend. The _last_ thing we need is your crappy attitude, which doesn't help _anyone!_ " The Outlander grabbed Kora's arm and the two started walking towards the Mountain to the North.

"Where are we going?" Kora asked, glancing back at Eva. The Zangoose was already walking away.

"The guild's in the mountain, right? If we go there, we're either going to find some help or that prissy Pikachu and have her fix this." Rio replied, letting go of Kora's arm and calming down a bit. For almost an hour, neither of them said anything until they reached the forest again.

"Would it be quicker to go through the woods and follow the shore?" Rio asked, getting a shrug from his fox companion.

"Maybe If you use your aura sense, you can tell which direction the guild is and which way to go. I mean, if your aura sense is working." The Halfbreed suggested. Rio nodded and closed his eyes, trying to 'see' as far as he could. It took him a minute but Rio was able to sense a small cluster of Pokémon in the mountain, and they seemed to be more on the side of the shore than the forest.

"I think I know where to go, I can feel some Pokémon on the shore." Rio's face then frowned, "I can also sense that uptight rat with them."

Rio's change in tone sent chills down Kora's spine. It would be normal for anyone to be mad, but Rio's normally calm or atleast neutral most of the time. The pair walked down the coast in silence, and the closer they got to where Rio sensed the Pokémon, the more his aura would show. Aside from the sudden temper, Kora could feel that something was wrong with his Outlander friend; a familiar yet terrifying rage was building up inside of Rio.

/ _Sunset Beach, Guild Side/_

Around an hour and forty-five minutes from the Square, Rio and Kora make it to the part of the beach owned by the Sunrise Guild. The Mountain to the North was practically on the shoreline, on the center-line of the Island. Possibly due to his close the Mountain was to the shore, the sand was more blue and grey compared to other parts of the coast. The beach currently had the scars of battle, craters and burn marks scattered across the sand and disrupted it's serene beauty, and as Rio had expected, the Pikachu was there.

She looked to be training with a group of three Pokémon, a Charmeleon, a Frogadier, and a Grovyle. Much like the beach, the trio had their fair share of bruises. The Charmeleon especially look worn out, on the brink of passing out.

"The three of you are growing exceptionally well! In just a few weeks, you three will be able to move your rank up to Expert Explorers!" She said excitedly, the trio probably would have cheered if they weren't so tired and beat up. Eventually, the Frogadier noticed Rio and Kora standing off to the side.

"Wh-who are they? And why is one of them... glowing?" The frog asked, pointing at the two strangers. When the Pikachu looked where her student was pointing, she frowned and gritted her teeth.

"Why are _these_ two coming up here for?" She thought to herself before turning to her students. "Your training for today is over, get back inside."

"Wait, are you gonna fight them? Forgive us Miss Nari but we gotta see this!" The Grovyle exclaimed, the thought of seeing his mentor fight getting him excited.

"Whatever, just sit and watch then." Nari rolled her eyes and went over to the Lucario and Zoroark. The mouse could tell that Rio wasn't exactly pleased to see her, mostly from how much his aura was already flaring.

"I thought I wouldn't see you two for another month, what with the early vis-"

"Cut the crap! I'm only up here so _you_ can fix our friend that _you_ almost killed!" Rio said sternly, pointing at Minerva. Kora kept quiet, but nodded his head in agreement. Nari looked over to see an unconscious Meowth in the Zoroark's arms and was shocked.

"What? I-I swear, I've hardly left the Guild in the past week, and the few times I _did_ , I never went far enough to run into any of you!" Nari told the Lucario.

"Ah, we must have run into a _different_ Pikachu in the Springs yesterday? That's what you're saying?" Rio's aura grew the angrier he got. Nari looked back at her students and took a deep breathe.

"Rio, listen to me, I _never_ went out and fought anyone. The most I've done was check in on Nate and Zeke and the progress of your training. Nothing mo-"

Rio interrupted the mouse by slamming his paw into her face, sending her flying back towards the trio. The Charmeleon and Grovyle caught her, glaring at Nari's attacker.

" **LIAR!!!** " Rio yelled, his aura burning brightly and furiously. Kora hid Minerva's body from the expansion of aura, feeling something burn on his back, and jumped away from the Outlander.

"What the hell! She isn't lying, whoever-you-are! Why would she?!" The Fire-Type yelled back. Before he was able to interfere, Nari stopped the reptile. Her nose shed a bit of blood, and she was still a tad dazed, but the Charmeleon backed down.

'Alright, I heard Rio packs a mean punch, but I wasn't expecting _this._ ' Nari thought, wiping the blood from her face and regaining her cool. 'He seems really pissed about Minerva getting hurt, but I swear I didn't encounter any of them yesterday. Well, whatever. Right now, I gotta calm him down or knock him out.'

"Rio, if I promise to help Minerva, will you calm down?" The Pikachu asked. She didn't get a proper response, just an angry grunt. Rio still seemed driven to fight for some reason.

"Kids, have Kora follow you to the nurse. I'll meet up with you after I handle the Outlander." Nari ordered.

"H-HE'S AN OUTLANDER?!?" The trio exclaimed, bringing a sigh out of their mentor.

"I'll fill you three in later, just make sure the Zoroark and his friend get to the nurse!" Nari exclaimed. The three students, followed by Kora, quickly left the area. As Kora passed by the Pikachu, he nodded gratefully at her, and she nodded back.

Rio charged Nari down once the others left, slamming his paws down as he was in front of her. His attack missed, his target basically vanishing at the last second and reappearing above him. Nari's tail was quickly covered in iron and was slammed into Rio's back. The Outlander barely reacted to the hit, throwing his arm back to hit the Pikachu while she was still airborne. Rio just barely scratched Nari's side before she launched herself away with the force of her Iron Tail. Just as Nari landed, she sparked up her aura and fired a Thunderbolt at Rio, striking the same spot her Iron Tail hit. Unfortunately, Rio didn't seemed even the slightest bit fazed by the attack.

'It's funny, I could have sworn I've seen that Aura technique somewhere before.' Nari thought to herself. 'Come to think of it... he yelled my name earlier, right? He didn't hear when the kids said it, did he?'

Nari let her guard down for that moment, a moment that Rio didn't let go to waste. The Lucario swiftly approached Nari and kicked her in the side, knocking the wind out of her. Rio then kicked her off the ground and slammed both palms into her stomach.

'Th-This isn't how Zeke said Rio fights!' The Pikachu thought as she flew back several feet, hitting the sand and gasping for breath. 'He's trying to wear me out, but why? If this was any other fight, Zeke said Rio would practically _throw_ himself into his opponent, so why is he _actually_ fighting now?'

Nari stood herself back up when a sudden fatigue overwhelmed her, bringing her back to a knee. That last attack did something more than just hurt her, apparently. With all the experience in battle Nari gained over the years, the basic attacks Rio does should be hurting her so much. An attack with Aura, however, could end up screwing with her own aura, causing all sorts of negative effects. Knowing this, Nari decided it would be best to beat Rio in his own game.

"Alright hotshot, you got a few good hits in, but I've already decided that I won!" Nari exclaimed, hoping to agitate the Lucario into attacking her. Instead, he laughed took a step back.

"I'm no idiot, Nari. Trying to lure me in so _you_ could gain the upper hand? Tch tch tch." Rio replied, shaking his head. The calm attitude Rio gave off was surprising, and for a second, Nari thought his voice was different.

"Fine, but don't come crying back to me when you get yourself paralyzed, kid!" Nari said, sparking back up her aura. She fired five Thunderbolts in quick succession, each one just barely Rio as he moved away from Nari and closer to the water. He hadn't noticed where he was going until he felt a small wave wash over his feet.

"You sly mouse, you cornered me! Did little ol' me spark up your imagination?" Rio said. Nari's aura spiked for a few seconds before calming back down. Moving herself slightly closer to Rio, Nari fired more and more Thunderbolts, forcing the Outlander to block them as much as he could. When Nari was close enough to Rio, she tried again to hit him with Iron Tail. Her attack missed, making a big splash that covered both Nari and Rio. While Rio tried to wipe the saltwater from his face, he was quickly interrupted by Nari slamming her tail into his back, knocking the Lucario over and into the water. The Pikachu jumped a few feet away from the ocean and raised both her arms skyward.

"Thunder!" Nari yelled, a dark storm cloud appearing above the shore.

"Oh no you don't!" Rio exclaimed, sprawling out of the water and attempting to attack Nari before she finished her attack. The Electric-Type grinned as Rio approached her. She threw both her hands down as he was just about to strike, and struck herself with the Thunder! Rio was knocked back by the force of the attack hitting Nari, and when he saw what she did, he froze.

"What's wrong? Scared?" Nari mocked, a massively intense aura surrounding her. The lighting was so bright that Rio had to squint to look in her direction. He tried to stand up, but the moment he moved, Nari stood right in front of him.

"Gigavolt Discharge!" Nari raises her arm at Rio, and all the electricity she built up shot out in a massive pulse wave! The pulse got large enough to leave a ten foot wide scorch mark in the sand with Rio and Nari in the center. The Outlander's fur crackled with all the electricity it was hit with, his mouth was open and he stared blankly upwards. Nari fell back to sit on the sand, breathing slightly harder than normal.

"He's still, *pant, standing? Kid's made of tougher stuff, *pant, that I thought." The Electric Mouse said to herself, giving herself a minute to breath before bringing Rio inside the guild. She had to admit, despite how inexperienced he is, Rio could hold his own in a fight rather well. "I gotta hand it to ya, Rio. I haven't a good stretch in a long time, I thought the island life was making me soft." Nari said, deciding that now would be a good time to head inside.

"I should be..." Rio started to lean forward, the band on his right arm glowing a bright yellow, "Th-anking you, Nari." The Lucario fell face first into the sand, catching himself at the last second. The electricity that crackled in his fur started to move over to his arm with the band, it's flame design replaced with a lightning bolt that stretched past the band and covered the spike on his paw spike. Rio stood threw his arm upwards and summoned a ball of electricity, panting and smiling at it.

"I... I did it..." Rio said, dissipating the ball and looking over at Nari before falling down to a knee. It finally dawned on Nari what the Outlander was doing. She remembered that Zeke spoke of Rio's special ability to take on the typing of whatever attack his arm band withstands, and that Rio temporarily can redirect any attack of that same type.

"So... you _wanted_ me to hit you with some electricity?" Nari asked, helping the Lucario up. The Outlander nodded, thanking the Pikachu for her assistance. "Were you thinking of taking the electricity out of Minerva after the battle? That's about as clever as it was reckless, for you atleast."

"Don't give me too much credit, Sparky. I didn't think about that until _after_ I got a few hits in." Rio responded, holding his chest for a moment. "I don't think, *pant, I should be this tired. It was, *pant, just one fight."

"If you think something's wrong, we can have you checked up by the nurse, too." Nari suggested, leading Rio to a large entrance to the mountain.

"Not until after, *pant, I help Minerva." Rio said weakly. The two quickly made their way inside, Rio finding it harder and harder to stay awake.

 _/Inside The Guild/_

There wasn't much to the guild at first, the hallway Nari led Rio down was wide enough for three Pokémon to stand comfortably, the walls had glowing crystals lighting their way, and the smell of damp rock floated in the air. After about five minutes of walking, however, the hall opened up to a massive cavern with giant, multi-colored crystals scattered on the walls and ceiling. There were holes scattered on the walls that had signs indicating where they led, and in the center of the cavern was a massive, rainbow-colored crystal. The smell of damp rock was replaced with the scent of assorted foods and herbs, each tunnel having it's own disntinc smell. The path Rio and Nari went into was much larger than the one they entered the mountain through, and it's smell of medicine was preferred by Rio more than that first tunnel's smell.

"C'mon, we're almost there!" Nari told Rio. Every time he looked ready to slump over, Nari would shake him slightly. "Don't pass out on my yet, you're almost at your friends."

The pair reached a fork in the tunnels and turned right, arriving just a few minutes later at the infirmary. As soon as Kora saw Nari and Rio walk in, he immediately went to the Outlander's side and placed his friend's arm over his shoulder, bringing Rio over to one of the tall, straw beds next to where Minerva was resting.

"What did you do to Rio?!" Kora asked Nari, his tone a mix of worry and anger. "I never should have left him!"

"Hey, don't blame this on me _or_ yourself! He was trying to get struck by my electrici-"

Just then, young trio walked into the room, followed by a female Meowstic with a nurse hat, and rushed over to the others.

"We found Nurse Tia, Miss Nari!" The Grovyle exclaimed. Nari gave the trio grateful nod and turned her attention to the Nurse.

"She's been like this for almost a whole day, Kora said that I hit her with a Thunder and she went unconscious right after." Nari explained, bringing the feline to Minerva. Tia studied the unconscious Meowth closely, noting the unusual status of her life force and random sparks of energy, before looking over at Rio, who was trying to keep his eyes open.

"What happened to him? And why is he, sparking?" Tia asked. Rio shook his head and slapped his cheeks, but still felt groggy and tired.

"This is the new Outlander, Rio. He planned to take on Electric-Type properties and take the electricity out of Minerva himself, but after our fight he suddenly got tired of light headed or something." The Pikachu replied. Tia's ears twitched at the mention of Rio being an Outlander, wanting to question the Lucario throughly, but knew that now wasn't the time.

"Can you stand, Rio?" The Meowstic asked. At first Rio looked like he didn't hear her, his half-closed eyes almost looking straight past her. He eventually nodded his head weakly and stood on shaky legs.

"I gotthissss.." Rio answered, almost falling over. Kora helped Rio over to Minerva. The Outlander placed his paw on Minerva's chest, closing his eyes and steadying himself. Both Rio and Minerva started sparking and Rio slowly lifted his paw upwards. A steady stream of lightning connected Rio's paw to Minerva as he raised his arm. After a few seconds, Rio quickly grabbed the electricity and threw his arm back as fast as he could. Minerva's body let out a wave of electricity, hitting both Kora and Rio directly.

The two boys fell backwards, Rio holding a small, bright yellow shard, and Kora holding Rio ontop of him. Tia went over to Minerva and cast a Heal Pulse into the young feline before turning back to all the other Pokémon.

"She's stable again. Rio, whatever it is you did re-stabilized her being. She's perfectly healthy now." The Meowstic announces with a sweet smile. Kora sighed and chuckled to himself, pushing Rio to the side. As the Lucario's body motionlessly laid on the floor, the Zoroark nearly had a heart attack. Nari and Tia both had a growing concern for the Outlander's health.

"Hey, uh, Rio? You alright?" The Charmeleon asked, poking the Outlander a few times before being pulled back by his team.

"Dude, look!" The Frogadier exclaimed, pointing at Rio's face. He was completely knocked out, and began snoring loudly. Kora, Nari, and Tia each relaxed and let out a relieved sigh. After a minute to shake off the electricity he took, Kora lifted Rio into his arms and asked where to put him.

"If you wouldn't mind, could you bring him to one of the vacant rooms in the Explorers Wing? I'd offer to keep him here, but he's quite loud in his sleep." Tia responded. Kora nodded, and right before he left, looked over at Minerva. She was breathing gently, a very welcome development, and she was smiling.

"Hey, Nurse. If Minerva's alright, why is she still asleep?" Kora asked. The Meowstic shrugged.

"I'm not entirely certain. Her body is fine, other than the spot that was directly hit with the Thunder being lightly scarred, but on the inside is a whole 'nother story." Tia began to explain. "For some reason, she internally shows evidence of some form of struggle. For instance, up until Rio pulled the lightning out of her, Minerva's heartbeat was elevated due to some form of stress. And her brain also shows signs of some kind of strain or stress, but I couldn't see why."

"Is that the same thing that's affecting Rio?" The Halfbreed asked. Once again, all he got was a shrug. "Gee, what fantastic help you are." Kora said sarcastically before leaving the infirmary with the young trio following behind him. Nari and Tia waited a few moments before turning to each other and back to Minerva.

"Nari, are you feeling alright?" Tia asked, keeping her focus on Minerva.

"Why do you ask? I don't have bags under my eyes, do I?" The Pikachu joked. Tia giggled a bit before responding.

"No, it's just my job to ask. I mean, you never know when someone's hurt until you ask them, right?" The Meowstic replied.

"I feel like that's very situational. If someone came up to you with broken arm, would you _still_ ask if they're alright?" Nari and Tia both giggled and sighed.

"I get it, you have a point. I'll save the questions for people _without_ visible injuries." The Psychic-Type said. It wasn't long before Nari said she had to leave, saying that she wanted to make sure the students didn't get Kora lost in the mountain somewhere. The two waved goodbye and Tia was left alone with a happily asleep Minerva.

'... No, it couldn't have been her...' Tia thought to herself. 'Those abnormal fluctuations of energy weren't similar in anyway to Nari's. They seemed ancient, and definetly on a much higher level of potency that her's.' Tia glanced over at Minerva again, using her telepathy to make sure everything was still alright. All she felt now was Minerva's own power steadily rising back to normal, and the faintest trace of electricity under it all.


	12. Friends and Enemies

Fusion: No doubt, this chapter was delayed a good amount, but I can assure you guys that the wait was worth it! Atleast I hope it is...

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or any other referenced media within this story.

"So... where am I taking Rio?" Kora asked, following behind the young trio closely. The Charmeleon stopped the group as they entered the large area laden with crystals. The reptile scanned the area for a moment before pointing at one of the higher entrances on a wall.

"That's where the all the vacant rooms are, I think. It's either that one, or..." The Grovyle stopped his Fire-Type friend from thinking any harder by answering his question for him.

"Yes, that's where they are. Let's hurry up and get this guy there." The Grass-Type exclaimed, leading the others to the wall below the entrance.

"Is there no other way up there? Or any other tunnels with rooms or whatever?" The Fox asked, getting a no from each of the Pokémon with him.

"We usually just jump from crystal to crystal, it's actually kinda fun!" The Frogadier explained. The frog then realized that it might be tough to jump while holding not just an unconscious Pokémon, but a Steel-Type at that. "Oh, but if you want some help, we can- EEEEP!!!"

"What's the pro- OH GEEZ!" The Charmeleon turned to see what was up when he was knocked down by a powerful force, bumping into the Grovyle on the way down. Kora had managed to jump all the way to the tunnelms entrance in one Dark-Pulse-powered jump. The Zoroark hadn't realized what actually happened until shortly after he landed.

"What am I doing up here? And where did those three go?" He asked, looking everywhere around him until he noticed the trio all on the floor.

"Hey, wait up!" The Charmeleon yelled, scrambling to his feet and jumping to one of the crystals.

"You cheat! Blasting us down so you can get up there first!" The Grovyle angrily exclaimed, following behind his Lizard friend. Both of the boys where easily caught up to, and passed, by the female Frogadier.

"How did you jump up so high?! I don't think even Miss Nari can get up here with just one jump!" She asked, amazement in her eyes. Kora shrugged. It didn't take too long for the others to catch up, and as soon as they did, the Grovyle placed himself in front of the others to lead the way.

The tunnel weaved from side to side, and barely had enough height for Kora to walk comfortably. It was difficult for the Zoroark to place where he was in the Mountain, mostly due to the sudden drops or turns that he struggled to carry Rio through. After what felt like hours of wandering in the tunnel, the group finally made it to the hall with vacant rooms.

"Alright, choose a room to drop your friend in. We only ever use these rooms in emergencies, so I don't think anyone is gonna bother him while he rests." The Grovyle told Kora. The Dark-Type walked down the hall and stopped in front of a room with just one straw bed. It felt somewhat familiar to Kora as he carried his friend to the bed and set the Outlander down gently. With Rio soundly asleep, and Minerva no longer afflicted with whatever form of Paralysis she had, Kora fell hard on his backside and let out a loud, aggravated sigh.

"Gaaaaahhh!!! Why is everything so messed up all of a sudden?!" The Zoroark asked aloud, his frustration getting the better of him. "Almost every damn day, someone gets hurt in a fight, someone else goes berserk, and after all of that, another person randomly disappears!?!"

The trio watched awkwardly from the doorway, neither of the three really wanted to ask questions but they knew they had to do something. After a moment or two of Kora ranting to himself, the Frogadier decided to speak up.

"Um... are you... okay?" She asked, slowly approaching the fox.

"I have no freaking idea! You're guess is as good as mine, whatever-your-name-is." Kora responded. The fox stopped his venting when he realized he really didn't know any of their names. "Actually, what _is_ your name?"

"Oh, did we forget to introduce ourselves? Guess with all the excitement and all, it totally slipped our minds. I'm Nina." The Water-Type said with a smile. She extended her arm out to shake Kora's, who firmly obliged. "Those two are Jay and Lucas." Nina pointed to the Grovyle and Charmeleon respectively.

"I'm Koraza, but I usually just go by Kora. Nice to properly meet you three." Kora calmed himself down and smiled. "Sorry to get each of you caught up in our business."

"It's no problem, Kora. Honestly, we haven't seen anything interesting since we joined the guild a long while back." Jay said.

"Yeah, all we've done is train and train! Besides, you're making it sound like this is a lot more trouble than it was." The Fire-Type chimed in, approaching Kora and Nina. Jay stayed by the doorway; the room wasn't that large and the other three Pokémon were taking up what little space was already there.

"I guess I should explain a bit more, my ranting and raving didn't help, did it?" Kora joked, chuckling for a moment before taking a deep breath. The fox looked at his slumbering friend before continuing. "Rio is... a lot more special than you guys might know."

"Oh yeah! Nari said he was an Outlander before we brought you inside the guild, right? Is that true?" Nina asked. Both of her friends almost forgot about that, looking at each other then back at Kora for an answer.

"Yes. Rio is the newest Outlander, if you couldn't tell by the strange ability he showed off earlier." The Zoroark responded. The trio's faces all lit up, even Jay decided to move in closer to hear more from the fox.

"That's awesome! It's a shame he's out cold, cause I would love a few fights with him!" Lucas exclaimed.

"I wonder what attacks he know? Can't Outlanders learn any type of attack?" Nina asked.

"Why did he show up?" Jay asked firmly, his seriousness putting a halt to his friends' excitement. "I'm pretty certain that Outlander's show up for a reason, so what's his?"

Kora's face started to grow sadder by the Grovyle's inquiry. "He's supposed to save the world from a great and powerful evil. Minerva and I are his teammates, and we were thinking of joining the Guild after we trained up a lot."

"Whoa there, back it up a bit," Lucas said, looking somewhere between worried and curious, "what do you mean, 'Save the World'?"

"Exactly that. We don't know what we're fighting or where we're supposed to go, which is why we're going to join the guild." Kora explained. The three stayed silent for a few moments, trying to process what they've been told.

"...That doesn't sound at all feasible. How are you gonna stop a powerful evil without knowing what it actually _is_?" Jay asked.

"Well, first we join the guild, then see where that takes us. Besides, I'm pretty sure we can take our time finding out. My Mom said that if the world were in danger right now, she'd be on top of it before anyone else." Kora responded, getting intrigued and confused expressions from the three.

"Your... Mom?" Nina and Lucas both asked. The Zoroark nodded.

"H-Hold on, is your Mom named Diana?" Jay asked, getting another nod from Kora.

"Yeah, why? Actually, how do you know that?" Instead of getting a normal response, Kora was suddenly bombarded with questions upon questions from Nina and Lucas. ' _The_ Diana?!? The Outlander that saved the **WORLD** Diana?!?', 'Did she really travel across an _entire_ ocean in a day?!?', 'Is she actually strong enough to fight the **GODS**?!?', etcetera, etcetera.

After each question, Nina and Lucas got closer and closer to Kora, totally invading his space and making him walk backwards in the small room. Unable to answer a question without his answer being stifled under several more questions, Kora couldn't do anything but back up further until he tripped over the stray bed and fell. Thankfully, the Halfbreed caught himself before falling on top of Rio, who was still completely asleep.

"Geez, if I knew my Mom was this popular, I wouldn't have said anything." Kora managed to say, carefully standing back up and dusting himself off. "I don't know what you guys asked, but it's more than likely a yes, unless you asked if she ever lost a fight." Lucas and Nina's faces lit up with excitement, something that wasn't shared with their Grass-Type friend.

"Prove it." The Grovyle said, crossing his arms and staring at Kora in disbelief. The room grew silent after Jay's demand, his friends looked back at him almost in shock, and Kora took on a more serious dispostion.

"What do you mean, 'prove it'? I wasn't there, all I know is from her own stories!" The fox replied.

"I don't care about that. I don't know about Nina and Lucas, but the last thing I'd believe from a stranger is their connection to a powerful Outlander." Jay explained, walking up to Kora and clenching his fists. "There's plenty of Outlanders that claim to know her just because they are Outlanders, and they get whatever they want from that lie!"

"Jay, calm down. I don't think he's lying to us!" Nina pleaded to her friend, unfortunately, her plea fell on deaf ears.

"I'm not lying. Why would I?" Kora asked sternly.

"You said you needed to join the guild, that 'supposedly' you and your friends were going to beat some powerful evil and save the world. We've heard the exact same garbage from Pokémon claiming to be Outlanders, and all of them were fakes!" Jay grew visibly angry the more he spoke. Kora made sure to pick his words carefully, there was something deeper between Outlanders and Jay, and Kora did _not_ want to piss the kid off more.

"What do you want me to do? To bring her to you? Even if I wanted to, I haven't seen her in days." Kora asked, standing firm.

"Then fight me." Jay demanded. Although it was invisible to the present Pokémon, Jay's aura spiked up enough to change the pressure in the room. The Grovyle and Zoroark stared at each other for a moment before Kora responded.

"No." Jay stopped for a moment. After a few seconds, he started laughing to himself.

"I knew it. I knew you'd say no! Plenty of the fakes declined my challenge, boasting about how much 'stronger' they were, but those stupid enough to say yes lost terribly. I won't lose to some liar, not now, not ever." The Grass-Type crossed his arms.

"..." The room stayed silent. Nina and Lucas looked at Jay and back to Kora for an answer. For a moment, you could swear time froze.

"Listen, Jay." Kora said, putting a paw on Jay's shoulder. "I get that some Pokémon would stoop so low as to lie about who or what they are. But, and this is very important, I am no liar. So when I say that I am leagues above you," Kora's black aura started rising from his body, oozing over the ceiling as it touched. "I actually mean it."

Jay and his friends stepped back, a mix of fear and awe overtook them as they watched Kora's darkness cover the whole room in. Kora lifted his paw up sharply, turning all the darkness into small black and purple specks as they dissipated into the air. The trio were amazed at how terrifying it was to be surrounded in the darkness, and how beautiful it was when it faded away.

"How did you do that?" Nina asked.

"That was incredible!" Lucas exclaimed. Jay stayed quiet, but he didn't need to say anything anyway. The Zoroark started to smile, glad that his little show went over well.

"Almost a week ago, I was trapped in this ball of darkness. It was loud, dark, and heavy, so heavy that I could barely breath. I thought I was going to be stuck there forever, until Minerva came and saved me. That's how I feel whenever I think back to that day." Kora explained. "Plus, my Illusion ability makes it easy to make whatever I want to appear." The fox held out his paw and made some of the black particles reappeared, forming into a black lily that Kora held in his claw tips. He gave the flower to Nina with a smile, the Frogadier gleefully accepting her gift.

"I'm sorry for doubting you, Kora." Jay said sheepishly. "It's just..."

"Don't worry about it. Like I said, I know where you're coming from. Tell ya what, how about you guys all fight me? That'll probably be better than standing around in this cramped room." The fox suggested, getting no objections. As the three other Pokémon left, Kora looked back at Rio for a few seconds. The Lucario didn't look pained, which Kora thanked the gods for. The fox hoped he wouldn't be left waiting by his friends.

The walk towards the Main Area was calm and let Kora think clearly, now that he wasn't carrying an unconscious Pokémon to safety.

'What the heck was that?!?' Kora thought to himself, looking at his paws. It was a good thing he was behind everyone so the couldn't see him quietly freak out. 'Since _WHEN_ could I make an entire room filled completely in darkness?! And make a flower that stayed together after I let go of it???' Kora looked up towards Nina and noticed the flower was still very intact, and had a faint purple glow around it. 'IT'S STILL THERE?!?'

While Kora was hopelessly lost in thought about this strange power he somehow obtained, the others stopped at an intersect for a couple of Pokémon. A large, four-armed humanoid and a tall, sharp-looking fellow with a blade on his head. Not noticing the Pokémon before him had stopped, Kora bumped into Jay, or bumped into Nina and then Lucas, who fell into the sharp fellow and yelped loudly.

"KYAHHH! S-So sharp!!" The Charmeleon exclaimed, startling everyone there.

"Watch where you're going ki-" The tall, sharp fellow, a Bisharp, looked up and saw a familiar fox looking back at him.

"Hey Zen, is the kid alright?" The Machamp asked, looking down at the hurt Lucas and at each of his friends until, he too, noticed Kora standing behind them. Tears started streaming down Jax's face when he realized he luckily ran into his trainee. "K-K-Kora!!!"

Jax pushed Zen out of his way and rushed over to the Halfbreed, totally forgetting about they smaller Pokémon on the ground, each of which barely moved out of the larger Pokémon's steps. Kora didn't realize what exactly was going on until he was tackled and hugged by two pairs of incredibly muscular arms that threatened to turn him into powder.

"H-Hey Jax. Surprised t-to see you h-here!" Kora managed to say, "Could y-you please let me d-down?"

Fortunately, Jax heard Kora's words and let go of the Zoroark, dropping him on his back.

"Oh, sorry bud. It's just, now that I found you..."

"You already found me, like yesterday, actually."

"Yeah, but I lost you again this morning. But now that I found you, I won't have to tell your mom I lost you in the first place! I get to live to punch another day!" The Machamp happily exclaimed, tears of relief streaming down his face.

"Gee, glad to hear that you care for my wellbeing as your student." Kora said sarcastically, stretching his sore body. Zen picked himself and dusted the dirt off of him, annoyed that he got so easily pushed over by the most childish man on the island.

"Alright, you've had your fun Jax, let's go. We still have to find the Sparring Area." The Bisharp said grumpily. Lucas shot up, disregarding the cut on his cheek.

"We were heading there ourselves, Zen! Why don't ya come with us?" The Fire-Type offered. Zen sighed and nodded, much to Kora's surprise.

"You guys know Zen?" Kora asked. Nina helped Jay up and nodded.

"Yep, he holds the record for staying underwater the longest without being a Water Type!" The Frogadier explained.

"That, and he was the student of one of the Guild's founders. He's a bit of a big deal around here. I've _always_ wanted to fight him, and now's my chance!" Jay's eyes lit up after adding in his information. Kora looked at the Bisharp confused and wanting an explaination. Zen walked next to the Halfbreed before answering.

"You'll figure it out. Unless you are as incredibly idiotic as I think you are." The Dark-Steel Type teased, grinning boastfully. Kora scoffed at the comment and followed behind the young trio, with Zen and Jax behind him.

Once the group reached the Main Area, Lucas led them all towards one of the lower tunnels with much more walking room. Jax didn't have to bend his neck down just to walk, and his body didn't take up the entire walkway. Zen and Jax both argued about how one knew the right way and blamed the other on getting lost. On the walk down, they all passed by a large stone door with odd marking on it. The marking looked like fire, but a crazy, more uncontrollable fire. There was a much larger amount of crystals around the entrance, almost as if they were placed there purposefully.

"What's behind that door? Looks important." Kora asked, getting a shrug from everyone else.

"No one's ever opened it. I don't think even the Guildmaster know's what's behind it." Nina shuddered.

"Some of the other guild members say that they hear strange noises coming from it at night, others say that you can hear something dripping from behind it." Lucas added, making Nina shudder more.

"I've heard that if you touch the door, you'll grow drowsy and fall asleep for a day." Nina and Lucas both shuddered from Jay's input. "What's worse, you'll have terrible nightmares for an entire _week_!" Everybody stopped in their tracks after hearing that. Jax, Zen and Kora looked at each other before looking back at the kids.

"That sounds, completely ludicrous." Zen said, crossing his arms.

"Oh yeah, then why're you _shivering_?" Jay asked, a bold grin plastered on his face. Zen coughed and stopped shaking.

"I-it's kind of chilly down here, that's all."

"Yeah, that's what all the Pokémon said..." Jay said, crossing his arms, "right after they touch the door."

Zen froze up for a second, making Jay laugh. Once the Bisharp regained his senses, he started pushing everyone towards the Sparring Area.

 _/Sparring Area, a Few Minutes Later/_

The Sparring Area was very large, it was definitely the large area in the Mountain, being almost the size of the entire base of the Mountain. The ceiling was almost entirely covered with multi-colored crystals, with more crystals scattered on the walls. There was a lake near the center of the room, almost thirty feet deep and roughly fifty feet wide. The bottom of the lake had more crystals, and the water was so clear you could see each one perfectly from the surface. Jax and Kora admired the room for a little while longer, forgetting why they were there in the first place.

"Are you two enjoying yourselves? Do you need more time to admire the decorations?" Zen asked sarcastically. The two stopped looking around and cleared their throats, nodding once to show they were finished.

"Good. Now, let's actually get into the fighting, I've been itching to battle since Nari zapped me unconscious!" Zen's aura flared up for a second, Kora grinned at the Bisharp's eagerness.

"And _I've_ been waiting to fight you since you got here!" Jay responded, standing across from Zen. "Come on! Fight me!" Honestly, Kora felt hurt, having Zen be chosen over him. 'I thought we were coming here so they could fight _me_...'

"Th-Then I'll fight Kora!" Nina blurted out, blushing slightly when everyone looked at her.

"That just leaves me and Jax, huh?" Lucas looked over at the bulky Machamp and gladly took the challenge, "Alright, I'll take you on!" Jax grinned and pounded his fists together.

"What spirit! What pride! That fire burning within you, is the same as my own, kid!" Jax exclaimed, standing across from the Fire-Type. The fighting spirit that the others emanated wore off on Kora and Nina, the two going towards the lake and getting ready to fight.

"If you go easy on me Kora, I swear I'll make you regret it!" Nina boldly claimed, putting the black flower in her frubbles before hopping into the water. Kora got on all fours and grinned devilishly.

"Don't blame me if you get hurt, Nina!" The Dark-Type replied, getting ready to move. 'First things first, see what I'm dealing with.'

Nina dived underwater before jumping high above the water's surface with water all around her. "Water Pulse!" She yelled, the water around her forming rings that shout out towards Kora. The fox ran around the lake, the Pulses hitting right behind him. When Nina ran out of the water that surrounded her, and fell back into the lake to recharge, Kora took his chance to counter attack.

"Dark Pulse!" The Zoroark jumped above the lake and fired a very held-back Pulse at Nina. Kora's attack didn't go far below the surface, but it did blow Nina out of the water with a glorious splash. The Water-Type landed on her feet, across the lake from Kora. Nina hopped back into the water, swam to the other side, and hit her opponent with a Quick Attack and knocked him back a few feet.

"Aerial Ace!" The Frogadier jumped over and slashed at Kora before he could recover, landing behind him. Her attack did more damage than Kora expected, but instead of pain he felt impressed.

'Maybe she actually _can_ make me regret going easy on her. But I can't go all-out, she's just a kid!' Kora thought as he stood back up. 'Maybe I can beat her with a more, _creative_ strategy.'

"You're not tired already, are you?" Nina mocked, a proud smile upon her face. Kora noticed the flower that remained in her frubbles, and got a clever idea.

"Not yet, I haven't broke a sweat! Dark Pulse!" Kora exclaimed as he fired the pulse directly into the ground below him, sending dust all around him. Nina didn't approach, thinking about what the Dark-Type could possibly be planning.

"Water Pulse!" Nina's attack clearer away most of the dust, revealing that Kora was gone! He wasn't anywhere around her, he just disappeared! For split second, Nina felt something rush behind her. She immediately jumped as high as she could and fired another Water Pulse where she stood. The Water-Type landed back in the lake, searching for Kora. When the dust settled from her attack and she realized no one was there, she tensed up. After a few seconds, a giant splash startled Nina from behind her, and in the center was none other than Kora.

"Incinerate!" The fox yelled, blasting a powerful fireball directly at the surface between him and Nina, sending the two flying and creating a giant splash. Kora hit the ground hard on his back and flipped over a couple times, landing on his back. Nina landed on her stomach and skid a few feet back, almost interfering with Jay and Zen's match.

Both Pokémon laid where they landed for a minute to catch their breath, Nina surprised at how much a Fire Type attack hurt from an _indirect_ hit, and Kora bewildered by his sudden increase in power.

'It doesn't make any sense.' They both thought to themselves. Eventually, the two got themselves off the ground and approached each other, meeting in front of the lake again. Instead of saying anything, Kora raised his fist up and Nina gladly bumped her fist with his.

"You're not that bad, glad to see the guild has some tough members already in it." Kora said, his compliment giving Nina a warm smile.

"You're not too bad yourself, for someone not in the guild at least." Nina playfully replied. "By the way, how did you disappear in the middle of our fight? I mean, I thought you were fast but I didn't see you move at all after you blew up all that dust!"

"Oh that? I just used my Illusion. After I created a little diversion, I hid myself underwater and waited for you to approach." Kora explained.

"How did you know I was gonna go back into the water? I could have just stayed on land and waited you out." Nina asked, sitting down at the water's edge.

"I figured that you needed more water to use Water Pulse again. It was only a matter of time before you went back to refill. Either that, or I just got lucky." Kora grinned, sitting down next to the Frogadier. The pair were eventually joined by Jax and Lucas, both looking beaten and bruised from their fight. They both winced when they sat down beside their friends, but pretended to not feel anything.

"You got yourself a powerful puncher as a friend, kid! I'm proud!" Jax said, making Lucas' eyes sparkle.

"Jax hits like a truck! Four trucks! I don't think anyone else in the guild is as strong as he is!" Lucas exclaimed, getting a chuckle out of Jax. The two went to fist bump each other, completely forgetting how bruised they were, and almost fell over from the pain that shot up their arms from their fists. When Nina looked closer at Lucas' hands, she noticed how purple they looked and almost freaked out.

"Lucas, you numbskull! This looks terrible! We gotta get you to Nurse Tia immediately!" The Frogadier yelled, dragging the beaten Charmeleon behind her. Jax and Kora quickly followed, not bothering to get Jay or Zen's attention since they were both concentrating on their fight. They probably wouldn't even notice that everyone else left.

/ _Outside the Infirmary/_

Despite their best efforts, Kora and Jax weren't able to keep up with the frog and her friend. By the time the two reached the Infirmary, Tia was already looking after Lucas and scolding him for his reckless behavior. When Jax entered the room, with Kora right behind him, he stopped without saying a word.

"Hey, what's up? Why'd you stop walking so suddenly?" Kora asked. The Machamp turned slowly before answering.

"You know how scary your mom gets when she's angry, right?" Jax whispered, slowly trying to walk back outside. "This lady makes your mom's wraith look like a tantrum! So if you'll excuse m-"

" **I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN YOU DID THIS YOU IDIOT!!!** " Tia yelled, grabbing Jax with Psychic and bringing him close to her before slamming him down on the floor. "Not _only_ do you make stupid decisions, but you just **HAVE** to bring others along for the ride, huh!?!"

"O-Ow! Tia! P-Please let me go!" Jax begged, his plea only strengthening the force Tia pushed down with. The ground started to crack below the Fighting-Type, and the other Pokémon in the room thought it would be smart to leave. "I-I'm sorry! We got so c-caught up in our sparring m-match, we forgot h-how much we g-got hit!"

" **DO YOU _REALLY_ THINK THAT'S AN ACCEPTABLE EXCUSE!?!** " Tia's booming voice began to make the others scared, almost making each of them apologize for absolutely nothing.

"M-Miss Tia! Don't blame him, the fight was my ide-!"

" **DON'T YOU TRY AND COVER FOR HIM YOUNG MAN!!!** " The Meowstic barked at the Fire-Type, quite literally draining him of his color. At this point, Jax couldn't move a muscle, Kora and Nina were trying their hardest to leave, and Lucas sat in one spot almost devoid of life.

"T-Ti...a! I-I'm s-sor...ry..!" Jax strained to say, trying his best to not pass out. The Meowstic finally decided to let the Machamp go, allowing him to take in as deep a breath as possible.

"If another Pokémon comes in hurt because of _you_ , I won't be so nice." Tia's spat. Jax nodded weakly and uttered a noise that confirmed that he understood. Tia gathered herself and went back to helping Lucas.

"Oh no! I didn't mean to snap at you so harshly dear!" The Nurse said, holding Lucas' hand in her paws. His only response was a few moans and groans, and also falling over when she let go of him. Tia looked at the doorway and noticed Kora laying on the ground face-down.

"Kora! What happened? I didn't yell at you did I?" The Meowstic asked as she ran to the downed Zoroark's side.

"I couldn't... get away... in time..." The fox managed to say. His voice sounded weak and defeated. "Too much... power..."

 _/Five Minutes Later/_

After a couple healing pulses and apologies, Kora and Lucas were back in fighting condition! Jax, on the other hand, was made to wait until Lucas and Kora recovered before Tia even thought about healing him. How unfortunate.

"What're you gonna do to him?" Lucas asked, poking at Jax's side to make sure he was still awake.

"Getting you two back to tip top shape kind of wore me out, so Jax will have to wait until I can recover. He might spend a few hours here, maybe even the whole day." The Nurse replied with an innocent smile.

'She's totally leaving him like this all day.' Kora and Lucas thought. Before they both left, Kora made sure to check in on Minerva. She had curled back up into a ball and looked perfectly fine. A fuzzy warmness filled Kora's chest knowing she was alright, making him smile. With a wave and a goodbye, Lucas and Kora left the Infirmary and planned on seeing who won between Jay and Zen. Right outside the doorway was Nina, who luckily got away unscathed from Tia's Outrage.

"Look who got away safely, leaving us both behind!" Lucas joked, poking Nina on the forehead.

"It's not _my_ fault that you guys were slow! You should be happy I came back anyway!" Nina responded, sticking her tongue out at Lucas. "Oh yea, that reminds me! There was a Scrafty in the Main Area a little while ago, said he was looking for someone called Eva."

Kora frowned, knowing that an encounter with Kane wasn't going to be entirely great. The three walked down to the Main Area and, sure enough, Kane was still there.

"Oh you're back, girly! With my least favorite Dark-Type too! What fun." The Dark-Fighting Type put on a fake smile and waved half heartedly.

"Why are you here?" Kora firmly asked, not feeding into his insult.

"Unlike some of us here, I like to make sure my team _isn't_ severely paralyzed, or hurt at all for that matter. And seeing how Zen was already here and the fact that I ran into your sorry ass, I thought Eva found herself in to escape the cold. Have ya seen her?" Kane asked, again trying to push the fox's buttons.

"No. We haven't seen her. Now make like your friend and get lost." Kora told him, walking towards the Sparring Area.

"Aww, c'mon Halfbreed! Don't take the 'least favorite' comment like that! It's not _your_ fault that you endanger almost everyone else around you! If you aren't busy getting your friends into comas, why not help me find mine?" Lucas and Nina were getting the vibe that maybe, just _maybe,_ these two didn't like each other. Trying his best to not engage a battle with Kane because of his natural talent for pissing people off, Kora didn't say a word.

'Why did that prick even need to rile me up? If he's so worried about Eva, what good is pissing me off gonna do?' The Dark-Type thought as he walked away. Nina and Lucas soon followed.

"Whatever, see you whenever one of your friends get hurt again. Or maybe I'll just see you running away, who knows?" Kane said as he turned away from Kora and the others and went into one of the tunnels.

The three walked in silence up until they reached the stone door surrounded by crystals. Kora stopped walking and started breathing heavier. As Lucas went to see what was wrong, Kora erupted in a furious rage, yelling and screaming, and was momentarily surrounded by darkness before punching the door as hard as possible. The spot Kora hit had a small indentation of his fist and cracked lightly. Lucas and Nina tried their best to calm him down and sat him away from the door.

"Damn him! Damn them both!!!" Kora exclaimed, panting heavily with his eyes shut. Nina and Lucas sat on either side of Kora, patting his back or holding his paw until he calmed down. It took a few minutes, but he did finally relax, right as Zen and Jay showed up.

"We thought we heard someone get hurt, are you guys alright?" Jay asked, he and Zen kneeling down in front of the three.

"It was this Kane guy, he said some really hurtful things to Kora. At first Kora was okay, but what that guy said got really deep under Kora's skin." Nina explained.

"Kora didn't want to fight that guy I guess, but as soon as we got to the stone door he lost it and punched the door." Lucas added, pointing at the cracked stone door. Zen put his hand on Kora's shoulder, giving a genuinely caring smile, and promised to punch Kane in the face for him. Kora chuckled and laid his head back on the wall.

"Thanks Zen. I'd do it myself, but punching solid rock was a really bad idea. I might have broke my paw." The Halfbreed said, holding his paw and starting to chuckle.

"Let's hope Miss Tia won't lose it when we bring you up to her." Nina said, a shiver running up her and Lucas' spine. Zen helped Kora up and the group walked all the way back to the Infirmary, luckily they didn't run into Kane again.

When the group dropped off Kora and explained what happened, Tia didn't say a word other than "don't do that again, okay sweetie?" She said that she was practically drained from healing Lucas and Jax, so she wrapped Kora's arm in some bandages and gave him a pack of fruit to eat throughout the day. While the Dark-Type was getting treated, Zen slipped out of the room with Jay, neither saying a word.

 _/Ten Minutes Later, The Beach Entrance/_

Kane was exhausted from looking all around the guild, and couldn't find a trace of Eva anywhere! He decided to take a break and sit on the beach, forgetting how frigid the outside was and almost instantly regretting the idea. He would've went back inside but he didn't know where he go, he didn't come across any rooms that had beds or seats, just tunnels and crystals.

"Dammit, why's today so difficult? First this cold, then Eva disappears, what's next?" Kane complained aloud, laying in the ice-cold sand. Before long he was approached by Zen and some Grovyle kid he never met.

"Wassup Zen? You haven't happened to see Eva in there did ya?" The Dark-Fighting Type asked. Zen shrugged and shook his head.

"I've been busy. This kid's got some talent for battle, I just barely beat him." The Bisharp explained. Kane stood up and nodded at the Grovyle.

"Name's Jay, by the way. If we see Eva anywhere, we'll tell her you were looking for her." Jay said. "Oh yeah, one more thing."

"Huh, what is it?" Kane asked. He just met the kid, what else could the runt want?

"Kora says hi, prick!" Jay proclaimed before he and Zen pulled back their fists and slugged Kane square in his face, knocking the Scrafty right back into the sand, unconscious.

/ _End Of Chapter/_


	13. Questions, but how many Answers

_Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon or any other referenced media within this story_

 _/The Infirmary/_

"Um, Miss Tia, where did Nari go?" Nina asked. The Frogadier sat next to Lucas on one of the vacant beds, with Kora standing next to her. Tia shrugged, looking over Jax and poking the Machamp in several spots.

"She said she had a few important things to check on, something about an assignment, I wasn't really paying attention. Maybe she's off to speak with the Guildmaster." The Nurse replied, glowing a faint blue after she finished poking Jax. Kora turned his head to the Meowstic, his fur standing on end for some reason.

"The Guildmaster... is here?" He asked with a surprised and somewhat worried tone.

"Well, of course. Guildmasters aren't exactly the safest Pokémon around nowadays. It's rare that one leaves their guild more than a small handful of times a year." Tia answered, crushing an assortment of berries and mixing a white powder into it.

"Really? I just thought our Guildmaster was a shut-in." Lucas chimed in, scratching his chin. Nina nodded with Lucas.

"I guess being on this island for so long might have kept you kids out of sync with current events. Can't say I don't envy that." Tia sighed, nudging Jax to sit up and handing him the mixture she made. Nina and Lucas both wondered what she meant, while Kora realized he really _doesn't_ know anything about life off the island. Other than the stories he heard while growing up, nothing about outside life ever came to his notice.

"What do you mean? You make it sound like... something bad happened..?" Kora asked, although he was hoping he wouldn't get the answer he was expecting. Tia blushed when she realized that she said that last part out loud.

"O-Oh, I didn't mean anything like that! I-I just meant that you're lucky to only know the island life! Yeah, that what I meant!" She stammered. Before anyone could say anything else, Jax immediately shot up and banged his head on the ceiling.

" **H-HOLY MILTANK!!!** Was that Energy Powder **FRESH** or **WHAT!?!** " He exclaimed, not noticing any pain from hitting his head at all. Tia looked at where she got the Energy Powder from and groaned.

"Did I put all of it in?! He's gonna be hyper all _day!!!_ " Tia said, right as Jax sprinted out of the room. The force of his footsteps were felt all throughout the mountain.

"If you kids wouldn't mind, could you got make sure he doesn't get himself, or anyone for that matter, hurt?" The Nurse asked kindly with nervous laughter. The three nodded and went to keep the Machamp out of trouble. Just outside the Infirmary was Jay and Zen, the latter of which was carrying an unconscious Kane over his shoulder.

"What happened to him?" Lucas asked. Jay smirked and held up his fist.

"I helped Zen keep his promise. Are you guys chasing that Jax guy? He nearly ran us over!" The Grovyle replied, gesturing behind him. Lucas nodded, running past the two and waving goodbye.

"You better catch up with us soon, he's hyped up on Energy Powder!" The Charmeleon said as he ran off with Nina and Kora behind him. Jay waved back followed Zen into the nursery, both of whom were complained to by Tia for all the extra work she's done so early in the day.

/ _Half an Hour Later_ /

Following Jax was easy, the behemoth left footprints in the ground and the pounding of his footsteps was a good way of telling how far they were from him. The problem was actually _catching up_ to Jax. With how large the Mountain was, all the tunnels and chambers within it, and how fast Jax was going, it wasn't exactly easy to get to the Machamp. Just as soon as the three thought they were close to Jax, they'd hear him running above or below them through one of the different tunnels. Even when they decided to split up, they ending up running into each other instead of Jax.

"Geez, how does he know where to go? * _pant_ * * _pant*_ We've literally been going in circles, and _none_ of us can catch him!" Nina said, exhausted from trying to chase Jax. Lucas sat down beside the giant crystal in the Main Area, holding his chest and panting.

"Even with all that Energy Powder he took, I wasn't expecting him to outrun us this much!" Lucas exclaimed. Kora joined the two soon after, falling over as soon as he was infront of Lucas.

"How does he keep... getting ahead of us..?" The Zoroark said, rolling onto his back and breathing heavily. They heard Jax running through one of the tunnels, stop for a moment, then run in the opposite direction.

"There's gotta be a way to trap him! Running after him obviously isn't working." Lucas exclaimed having finally caught his breath. Nina remembered the flower Kora made and suddenly had an idea.

"Hey Kora, why don't you run through the tunnels and make walls behind you?" The Water-Type suggested, holding the flower over Kora. "Just like how you made this flower, remember?"

"Make... walls? I've never tried to do something like that before. But I guess, it's worth a shot." Kora stood up, trying to hear where Jax might be or is heading to. With a possible location in mind, Kora and the others ran down one of the lower level tunnels. When they went past the entrance, Kora placed his paw on the wall and closed his eyes. After a few seconds, Kora's aura bled from his arm and closed the entrance to the tunnel with inky blackness that gained a darker color than the rock around it. Kora slowly let go of the wall, and breathed a sigh of relief that the wall stayed intact. Lucas even tried to push through it, but the wall stayed strong.

"Oh my gosh it worked! I'm a genius!" Nina cheered.

"Alright, we're getting somewhere." Kora spoke, starting to walk down the tunnel. "Do either of you know where this leads? If we're lucky, we can get to whatever room he's heading to and trap him in it."

"I think this goes to the Cafe. Or maybe... uh..." Lucas scratched his head before he shrugged and gave up on thinking. "Probably just the Cafe."

/ _Fifteen Minutes Later/_

"We're lost..." Kora said defeatedly. "There's no way we walked down this one tunnel and haven't come up to the Cafe yet."

"Maybe we shouldn't have went down the center path when we got to that three-way." Nina thought out loud.

"I have no idea where we're heading then. Whoops, my bad!" Lucas shrugged and laughed.

"How do _neither_ of you know where we are?! You practically  live in this mountain!!!" Kora exclaimed, putting up another Black Wall behind them.

"Hey, there's only like, three places we go to on a daily basis!" Lucas replied.

"And the Cafe isn't one of them?" Kora asked sarcastically. Lucas was going to respond, but couldn't come up with anything to say. "Atleast we'll know if we're going in circles since I've put a few walls. Let's hope we find that energetic man-child soon."

"Come to think of it, I haven't heard him sprinting through the tunnels for a while now. Do you think he's alright?" Nina asked. She brought up a good point, it's been mostly quiet for a little while now.

"Great. He's either out cold or on the other side of the mountain. You guys wanna backtrack or keep..." Kora looked up and noticed an opening further ahead. It had a purple torch on either side of it and a red mat below it. The edge of the opening was lined with silver and a thick wooden door in the center. Intrigued, Kora approached it to find out what was behind it. When Nina and Lucas noticed what Kora had found, they both immediately froze.

"H-Hey Nina. How m-many rooms have expensive looking d-doors like that..?" The Charmeleon asked, shaking slightly.

"Oh... not many. J-Just the G-Guildmaster's..." The Frogadier replied.

" **KORA!!!** " The pair both shouted, but immediately covered their mouths. Their sudden loudness made the Halfbreed jump, swearing he almost had a heart attack. "Th-That's the Guildmaster's door! We are _**NOT** _ supposedto _BE HERE!!!"_

"The Guildmaster? This is his door?" Nina and Lucas both frantically nodded their heads and motioned for Kora to come back. "...I'm gonna open it."

"Don't you dare!" Nina demanded, although her shaking to her core probably didn't help her.

"I think I do. I mean, what harm could it do?"

"If you want to join this guild, I can guaran **TEE** he will deny you if you walk in there uninvited!" Nina tried to convince the Zoroark. Fortunately for Nina and Lucas, Kora stopped approaching the door, and the wave of relief that swept over them was heavenly.

"Alright, fine. I'll _wait._ " Kora sighed, leaning on the door. "So I guess we're heading back then?"

Nina and Lucas nodded, both overjoyed to have avoided whatever punishment would have befell them. The two younger Pokémon walked back the way they came with Kora following behind them, until he realized that the door pricked his shoulder.

"Ow? I think I got a splinter from this thing." Kora said. After a moment passed, the door started to glow a faint red before opening itself up. Lucas and Nina didn't turn around, nor did they hear Kora.

'I'm pretty sure _this_ counts as an invitation, right?' The Halfbreed thought to himself. 'Maybe I'll just look around a little, that should be fine. And just so Lucas and Nina don't freak out, I'll put an Illusion of myself up to follow them.' And so he did. The copy was expressionless, but it looked exactly like him, wrapped up arm and all.

"Follow them and disable any fake walls I put on along the way, alright?" Kora whispered to the fake Zoroark. It didn't respond, but it followed the two younger Pokémon like it was told.

/ _The Guildmaster's Quarters/_

The inside was _far_ more spacious and elegant than any other room in the Mountain. The floor was smooth, the crystals more radiant, and the ceiling was rounded-off. There was a three-way once Kora walked inside, the path in the middle had two purple torches at it's start, held four rooms on either side and led to a downward staircase, the path to the left led to another door, and the right path led to a large, open area with a table in the middle.

The meeting room had torches placed around it to keep even lighting all throughout and a noticeable lack of radiant crystals, instead being replaced with black ones, with one large one in the middle of the ceiling. The table in the middle was made of the same wood as the large door, and in the center was a hole with glass filing it. Kora noticed a stack of papers on the other side and walked up to up while gently gliding his paw on the table. Before he reached the papers, the table pricked his paw, much like the door did, and started glowing.

'Whoa...' Kora thought as the glow from the table was magnified in the glass, and a near-solid beam of red shot up, directly hitting the giant crystal. The light stopped being fired from the table and the black crystal was now a bright, vivid red. After a moment or two, the crystal projected the light back onto the table, leaving marking all over it similar to a map. There was a red spot glowing near Kora on the marking of a mountain, which Kora assumed was the Guild, and seven other spots on various other places on the map. One was in the middle of the ocean, three on two different land masses , one on a different mountain, one on a cloud, and one in a dessert, or atleast that's what Kora assume it was since it was on a rough spot on the map and looked just like one of the land masses. There was also an odd black mark in the ocean, it felt cold when Kora touched it and seemed to move slightly.

Once he was done admiring the map, Kora remembered the stack of papers that first intrigued him. Right on top was a paper with Minerva's name on it. It read...

"Minerva, Daughter of Frost and Althea. Extraordinarily Powerful. Insane Amounts of Untapped Potential. Currently Unconscious."

Kora cocked his head as he read that, surprised that it was so up-to-date on his feline friend. The paper below it was Rio's, which read...

"Rio, Outlander. Not Significantly Powerful, but Highly Adaptive. Unknown Potential. Currently Unconscious."

Kora was again shocked. Rio passed out literally earlier today. Minerva's paper was odd, but she was out since yesterday. The fox started to get the feeling that he might soon be overstaying his welcome, but decided to read his own paper first. It read...

"Koraza, Son of the Heroine Outlander Diana and the Late Orion. Highly Powerful, but also Highly Unstable. Potential Immesurable. Dangerous."

'Wait... what?' Kora thought, re-reading his description. 'Dangerous? Unstable?'

He had hardly anymore time to think when he heard someone approaching from the middle hallway. He stacked the papers like when he first entered and tried to removed the map from the table. He tapped and swiped on various parts of it, but it would dissappear. After several more fruitless attempts, Kora decided to cast an illusion over it so it looked normal and looked for a place to hide. He heard the footsteps getting louder, and with no better idea, hid behind the table and tried to cloak himself in the illusion.

The Pokémon that walked out of the hallway was a Zangoose. She was a little taller than Eva, had purple markings instead of pink, and looked as if she just woke up. The Zangoose yawned loudly and walked up to the large door. When she placed her paw on it, it shone a purple glow and opened. Kora sighed before she actually left, which was a mistake, because she immediately stopped and looked around.

"Is someone else here?" She said. Kora quietly crawled under the table and held his maw shut. She couldn't see him, thankfully, and left shortly after. After she closed the door, Kora didn't hear any footsteps and just now remembered that there's only _one_ way out of this area, and that Zangoose was waiting right behind it.

'Alright, think Kora, think! She'll probably notice the door opening even if I put an Illusion over it, so either I'm gonna wait for her to leave or find another way out.' The Zoroark thought to himself. He took the illusion off of the table, thankfully the map faded away and the crystal turned black again, and slowly crept down to the three-way, stopping a few steps away from the door. Just to make sure he really was trapped in the Guildmaster's Quarters, Kora peeked under the door and saw the Zangoose's paws right at the door.

'This is fine, I'm gonna be alright. I'm only trespassing in the closed-off Guildmaster's chambers. No big deal, if I can get out of here unseen.' The Dark-Type thought, trying to keep his composure and think of a solution. He looked down the middle hallway and saw again the rooms and stairs. 'Let's hope that stairwell leads to literally any other part of the Mountain then.' He thought, walking slowly towards the middle hall.

Right as he was about to pass the torches, they instantly changed to red, which startled Kora enough to let out a light gasp and pause for a moment. Almost instantly he felt the fur on his back stand on end as the door was starting to open back up. Without even thinking, Kora jumped up as high as he could and dug his claws into the ceiling to hold him and his mane up, mere seconds before the Zangoose walked in. She looked to the sides before noticing the torches.

"The torches changed color, huh? It must've been the kids then." The Zangoose said. Kora quickly snuck through the door since she was so kind as to leave it open. The instant his feet hit the ground, Kora cloaked himself and bolted down the tunnel.

 _/Several Minutes Later, Main Area/_

It was a pretty straightforward run back to Nina and Lucas, the walls Kora put up were disabled and all he had to do was remember what turns he had to take. What he _didn't_ think of was what would be _waiting_ for him once he got out. Upon arriving at the Main Area, Kora was met with Eva holding down the clone he made, Nina and Lucas looking hurt and confused, and a Floatzel staring at him.

"Well dang, I owe ya a cake Eva." The Water-Type said with a sigh. Before Kora could ask what happened, Eva spoke up and answered him.

"This illusion, or whatever it is, was attacking those two. They held their own until we showed up, and I pinned him to the ground. I thought something was wrong when he never responded to anything any of us was saying, and as I held him down, there was no warmth in him at all." Eva explained. She then pierced the fake Kora in the chest, causing it to dissipate into black and purple particles. "Shame."

Kora felt a light sting in his chest as Eva took care of the fake. He shook it off and went to check up on Nina and Lucas. They were scraped here and there, but overall alright. Lucas grinned and bragged about how he was going toe-to-toe with the clone. Nina, however, was very upset with Kora.

"What the hell?!?" She yelled, hitting Kora's chest. "You just up and left us with that, that _thing!_ Where **_WERE_** you?!?"

"Um... I was, uhh-"

"You went into the Guildmaster's Room, didn't you?! We told you _not _ to go in there, but you did anyway and left that **MONSTER** with us!" Nina turned her back to Kora and pointed at three large diagonal cuts across her back. Kora felt a chill run down his back, the wound weren't too deep, but they were painful to even look at. " _That's_ what that thing did to me! Do you know how much that _hurt?!_ "

"I never... I didn't know that would happen. I wouldn't try to hurt you on purpose, I promise!" Kora replied, feeling a weight start to form in his chest. Before either of them could speak, Eva butted in and pushed Kora to the side and hugged Nina. The Frogadier sniffled quietly and hugged Eva back.

"I'm sorry we didn't get here sooner, before you got hurt. James'll bring you guys to Tia, I have to talk to Kora for a minute." Eva said softly. James, the Floatzel, led the two kids to the Infirmary, trying to lighten the mood with a couple jokes, leaving Kora and Eva to themselves.

"...I know what you're gonna say." Kora started.

"Do you?" Eva replied, crossing her arms.

"I'm an irresponsible idiot who only thinks of himself, does whatever he wants, and gets others hurt in the process." The fox answered, sinking down a bit.

"If you already know all that, why did you do it?"

"I _SWEAR_ I never meant to hurt either of them!!!" Kora yelled, gritting his teeth. "I don't know why this happened, but if I knew I was going to, then I never would have!"

"That doesn't fix anything, Halfbreed!" Eva exclaimed. "You put your 'friends' in danger, and all you do is apologize?! If you were _really_ sorry, this wouldn't be the _THIRD t_ ime one of your _friends_ got hurt!" The Zangoose said, making the weight in Kora's chest grow more _._

"It's not..."

"It's not _what,_ Kora? It's not your fault that you let Minerva take the Thunder for you at the springs? Or is it not your fault that the illusion of _YOURSELF_ attacked those kids, and scarred one of them?" Eva said coldly. Kora found it difficult to say anything. His mind kept going back to the paper about him that called him "unstable" and "dangerous." Maybe... it was right.

"I-I'm... I'm..." The Zoroark stammered, unable to say what he wanted. His legs felt weak, his stomach was in knots, and his arms and chest felt unbearably heavy.

"Don't waste your pitiful apology on me, I don't care to hear it again." Eva spat, walking past Kora towards the Infirmary. "Let someone else listen to you on repeat for once."

Kora stood motionless in place. He could move, for some reason. He felt like falling over, but he couldn't even do that. Even when a cold draft swept in from the outside, he wouldn't budge. Instead he heard same two words in his head, over and over again.

Dangerous

Unstable

Dangerous

Unstable...

Dangerous...

Unstable . . .

/ _The Infirmary, After Eva spoke with Kora/_

James and Tia chatted, having already wrapped up Nina with bandage and medicine. Zen was dozing off while sitting on the ground in front of where Kane was, and Jay sat next to Nina and Lucas on a bed. The frog in question was still upset, looking at the flower Kora gave her. She didn't know what to do with it, but she didn't wanna keep it anymore.

"You feeling any better? I'd pat you on the back, but..." Lucas said jokingly, although Nina and Jay didn't think it was funny. At all.

"Really." Jay said.

"Sorry..." Lucas apologized, pushing the tips of his fingered together. Nina sighed.

"Do you guys think overreacted a bit? I mean, he really _did_ look sorry." She asked her friends. They both shrugged.

"Oh please, I wouldn't give that jerk any leeway. It isn't his first." Eva said as she walked in. "Trust me, it's best for you _not_ to get near him. He attracts nothing but trouble." The Zangoose stood in front of Nina, waving hello at the three. She quickly noticed the flower Nina was holding.

"What kind of flower is that? Looks pretty." Eva asked.

"I don't know, Kora made it after we put his Lucario friend in one of the empty rooms." Nina replied, offering for Eva to hold the flower. The Zangoose held the flower cautiously.

"Kora? Really? I don't think he's ever done anything like this before." Eva said, sniffing the flower. It's scent was similar to a berry, but she couldn't think of which.

"Do you two know each other?" Nina asked. Eva frowned and nodded.

"Regrettably. He's been nothing but trouble since we were kids." The Normal-Type said, crossing her arms.

"Really? I always thought you two were pretty close." James butted in. "I mean, the two of you always hung out together, eating berries, telling stories, camping out by yourselves. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was your boyfriend."

Eva suddenly turned bright red and stuttered, tryin desperately to say it was nothing like that. Nina giggled at Eva being so flustered, while Lucas and Tia got a good laugh in. All the commotion even woke up Zen and made Kane nearly fall out of bed.

"W-We weren't like that at all! H-he was annoying and, and obnoxious!"

"If that's true, why are you turning redder than I am?" Lucas asked, holding back some laughter.

"It's just, uh, hot in here! Yeah, it's hot!" Eva answered, nodding her head.

"Is it hotter than your _boyfriend?_ " Zen asked with a smug grin, making Eva turn somehow even _more_ red.

"Hey, I can't beat up those kids, but I sure as hell can kick your butt, Metalhead!" Eva's threat was drowned out mostly by Lucas laughing his butt off and Tia laughing so hard that she snorted. The heavily embarrassed Zangoose turned to James and glared at him. Her gaze was so deadly, it stopped the Floatzel's laughter immediately.

"This is _your_ fault!" She said through gritted teeth.

"It's j-just a little joke, Eva! Some harmless father-daughter humor! No need to get, um, angry, right?" James tried to reason with his bright red daughter. Instead of getting any confirmation, James received a first-class ticket to getting thrown out the Infirmary rather forcibly.

After chucking her dad out, Eva dusted off her hands and let out a deep breath. She slipped out the room to check in on James, making sure he wasn't hurt too much. The Water-Type was perfectly fine, upside-down, without even a scratch or scuff on his skin.

"Did I do a good job, did the throw look authentic enough or do we have to do it again?" James asked, preferring to stay on the ground. Eva giggled and nodded.

"Thanks for lifting the mood, even though it was at my expense." The Zangoose thanked her father, sitting down next to him. James sat himself up straight and brushed some dirt off himself.

"If you don't mind me asking... what exactly _do_ you think of Kora? Every time I ask you say something like, 'it's complicated,' or, 'not the same as when we were kids,' or, 'Dad, stop asking me that question while stuffing your face with berries.'"

"It's surprising how many times I've told you that last one, honestly." Eva replied, letting out a little laugh before sighing and holding her head in her paws. "I definitely think he's an idiot... and dense. Stubborn too."

"Next you're gonna tell me he's needlessly emotional." James replied. Eva sank back a little, realizing that James was alluding to how broad that description is. "So... why does it seem like you really despise _him_?"

"Well... it's kind of hard to look past him leaving me hurt and alone in the forest. That kind of thing might _possibly_ be a deciding factor in liking or hating someone." Eva's tone shifted slightly towards a saddened one, which James picked up on quickly.

"Yeah, I understand. Sorry to bring it up, I know it's a rough patch to bring up. I'm hoping to help you past it."

As James stood up to leave, Eva grabbed his arm to stop him, a grateful smile upon her face. She pulled James down and hugged him tightly.

"No, it's nice knowing you care, no matter how annoying you are about it." The Normal-Type said as she let go and smiled warmly at her father, who promptly smiled back. "I think... I might have to apologize to him sometime."

The two stood up and started walking towards the Main Area, hoping Kora would still be nearby. Eva worked in her head just _how_ she would make it up to the fox, especially after snapping at him twice in one day. She knew James would offer to help, and even though Eva would rather do it herself, she might need it.

When they arrived, Kora was no where to be seen, much to the pair's dismay. The Pokémon they _did_ run into was a heavily exhausted, extremely sweaty Jax who nearly collapsed on the floor when James and Eva saw him. The Floatzel was fast enough to catch the Machamp and sit the tired Pokémon down. Jax was barely able to keep his eyes open, muttering something about going "super fast" and being made of gingerbread.

"Looks like you'll have to wait until later Eva, unless you think apologizing to Jax will work." James joked.

"I could use him as practice, they both share the same level of idiocy." Eva replied. Seeing no need to stand around doing nothing, Eva suggested that James can go do whatever it was he needed to do in the first place.

"Oh shoot, that's right! I totally forgot! I gotta go update those files on all the Islanders today! The one for Kora and Zen were replaced by old ones by mistake, the maker of which will remain unnamed." James exclaimed, running down the hall to the Guildmaster's Chambers.

"H-Hey, wait for me!" Eva yelled, chasing after the Water-Type. On her way after James, Eva accidentally knocked Jax over, who almost instantly fell asleep the moment he hit the ground.

/ _The Land of Rebirth/_

"Rio..."

"...Rio..."

The Outlander woke up to someone voice somewhere in the distance.

"Rio . . ."

There wasn't anyone around from what Rio could tell. The forest had gotten much thicker since the last time Rio was there, taller too. It was difficult to maneuver between the trees, so much so that Rio gave up within a few minutes. The Outlander sat there in silence, not doing anything, until he heard something

"Ri... o..."

The voice was further away this time, Rio was hardly able to pick up on it. He wanted to call back out, but the thought of what Third warned him and Ryan rang in his head. It wasn't exactly safe around here, anyone or anything could be anywhere. The Outlander waited a bit longer, listening for any sign of Ryan or Third.

After a few minutes passed, Rio decided to set out and find them. He, again, was hindered by the compactness of the forest, but knew he had no other choice but to move. He figured that the forest would _eventually_ open up, and hoped that he'd run into Ryan or Third soon.

'I hope they aren't in trouble.' Rio thought to himself. 'Just... wait for me.'

"Wait for me..."


	14. Lost

_Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any referenced media in this story_

 _/Some time after James was thrown from the Infirmary/_

After falling head-first off his bed, Kane decided he was well enough to leave and went somewhere to be alone, hardly saying a word as he left. He didn't really know the layout of the guild, but he didn't really care as long as he wasn't in that room.

' _Why_ am I... mad?!' The Scrafty thought to himself, one hand clenching his chest as he walked through the tunnel. 'No, I'm not mad, but what is this?!? I feel like, like punching someone!'

Before long, Kane arrived in the Sparring Area. He was so lost in whatever he was feeling that he didn't noticed the Lake before he fell straight in. Fortunately, he landed on one soggy Kora to break his fall.

"..."

Neither spoke about how the other was a prick for being in their way, or mutter under the breath about how disappointed they were to see the other. Instead, Kora remained floating in the water as if nothing happened, and Kane was glaring daggers at the fox. Just from looking at Kora, Kane starting fuming, and he couldn't explain why.

"What do you want?" Kora's question came out flat and disinterested. He probably asked it in hopes it would drive the nuisance away.

"Why are you floating like scum in the water?" Kane spat out, surprised and confused at his own response. Kora looked at his unwanted company with blank stares, unamused at Kane's insult.

"Ask Eva." The fox responded, to which Kane almost blew up.

"What _about_ Eva?!" An angered tone escaped Kane's mouth. The Dark-Fighting Type felt hot, but he couldn't explain to himself why. Kora sighed and dove under the water, not wanting to deal with Kane's crap.

"Get back up here, punk! I'm not done talking to you!" Kane shouted, slamming his fist into the water. The fox swam deeper without paying Kane any mind, which pissed the lizard off to no end. Kane jumped out of the water and stormed out the Sparring Area.

'Damn him!' He thought angrily, 'And damn myself! What the hell is happening?!?' Through his rage, Kane nearly knocked over Zen, who was walking with Jay, Lucas, and Nina. He wouldn't have noticed any of them if Zen didn't grab his shoulder and stop him.

"GET THE HELL OFF ME!!!"Kane yelled, still not realizing who grabbed him. He turned and glared at the Bisharp, who looked genuinely shocked at Kane snapping at him so harshly.

"Kane, are you alright? You're not still mad at us knocking you out, are you?" Zen asked. Kane forced his shoulder out of Zen's grasp.

"It's none of your _business_ , now **BEAT IT!!!** " Kane yelled, putting on his hood and storming away. Zen knew something was up. He told the other three to go ahead without him, saying that he needed to help Kane. By the time Zen turned around, Kane was gone.

'Oh damn, something is really wrong.' Zen thought as he started running after his friend in need.

/ _Sunset Beach/_

Kane didn't care where he went as long as no one else was there. The outside air was still frigid, his breath coming out in thick clouds that dissipated moments later. Keeping with the trend of not noticing things, Kane didn't feel the cold until he was well away from the guild. The Scrafty thought it would be best if he walked his busy and aggressive thoughts away, no matter how long it took or how cold he got.

'What is wrong with me? I wasn't always that aggressive... was I?' Kane thought to himself, feeling his heart pounding on his chest. 'Why is my heart racing? I don't...' Kane stopped almost fifteen minutes later when he noticed someone sitting in the beach, alone. It was a Zoroark, Diana to be precise. She looked awfully blue, probably because her mane turned blue for some reason. She stared off in the distance, unknowing of her surprise company.

"Miss... Diana?" Kane asked, not entirely sure if it really was her. When she turned her head and looked directly at Kane, however, he could see how sad she was. The few times Diana and Kane crossed paths, the motherly Outlander has a pleasant look on her face and a smile that warmed everyone's hearts. Now, the look she gave was anything but happy or pleasant, it was full of mourning and anguish. She had been on the beach for a while, tears had left streaks upon her fur and seemed to be frozen in some places. There were particles of sand all throughout her fur, mostly carried there by the wind. She hid her arms behind her when she realized she wasn't alone.

"O...Oh! It's you, Kane!" Diana's voice was strained, but she tried to hide it through forced optimism. Thinking back, Kane could swear he heard some faint yelling through his own rampant thoughts a few minutes before he had arrived.

Normally, Kane would leave this kind of situation to someone more... invested, in the lives of the other islanders, like Eva or Zen, but with no one else around and an urge to help this sorrowful Pokémon, Kane almost unwillingly sat down beside Diana to talk.

"Don't take this the wrong way miss, but you look terrible." Kane said. Diana sighed and stared back out to sea.

"What, this? I'm fine, perfectly fine!" Diana replied, putting up a fake smile. "I just... had a bad fall."

"Do you... need a nurse or something? The Guild isn't that far away." Kane offered, gesturing towards the Mountain behind him.

"N-No, I'm fine! Honestly!" The Outlander tried to convince Kane. "How about, I head over to my home and I can get myself patched up? You can escort me if you think you have to." Diana suggested with a nervous smile. Kane raised an eyebrow, not exactly falling for the Zoroark's facade of wellness.

"It looks like you'll need a whole lot more than whatever you got in your house." The Dark-Fighting Type pointed out. Diana let out a nervous laugh.

"Trust me dear, I just need a couple bandages and I'll be just fine!"

 _/A few Mintues Later, In the Woods/_

It was mostly silent, other than the rustling of the leaves in the wind and the occasional crunch of a twig or leaves on the ground. While Kane walked behind Diana in the woods, he noticed how jagged her breathing was, every now and then he heard her stomach growl, and she had a light limp on left leg.

'What on Earth was this lady doing recently? And why am _I_ the one that get's dragged into it?' He asked himself.

"Kane..." Diana said softly. "You haven't seen my sons lately... have you?" For a moment, Kane's anger came back to him. He tried his hardest not to lash out right now.

"Only Kora. Not sure where the ru- I mean, Kai is. If anything, I thought he would be with you." Kane replied. Diana chuckled lightly.

"Why wouldn't he be... right?" Diana asked sarcastically. "Truth is... Kai's been out advernturing the island with his little friend, Mia. He said he was going to join the guild and form a team with her."

"Really? Sounds like a bit much for a couple of kids." The Scrafty said. The Outlander Mother shrugged, let out a sigh and spoke again.

"I know... I know more than anyone else would. Not just one, but both of my little boys are growing up. Any mother would be proud." Diana's voice wavered a bit, and for a second she lost her balance and started to fall. Kane sped up to catch her, he would have too if she hadn't caught herself and reassured Kane that she was fine.

"Diana, I don't know what you did, but you _need_ help!" Kane raised his voice, surprising himself more than it did the exhausted Diana.

"Oh... we're here." She spoke. The two had already arrived at Diana's home, although it didn't feel like it was that long a walk. Diana walked inside, and Kane felt he had no choice but to join her. He couldn't leave the poor woman alone, no matter how little he though he cared about her.

 _/Diana's House/_

The house looked like nobody lived it for a few days. It was just as cold, if not colder, than outside. The mats they would sit or rest on were thrown to the side. The fire pit had nothing but ashes, and the pot sitting above it was caked with old Berry Juice. At first, Kane thought he felt an odd pressure when he walked in, but brushed it off as him adjusting to the inside of the house.

Diana sat down in front of the fire pit, scooping out the ashes and placing them in a jar to the side. Kane waited for her to ask for help, but after a minute or two of watching her do it by herself, Kane begrudgingly decided to assist her. After they took out the ash, Kane put in a few logs that were near the entrance and tossed them into the pit. Diana held out her paw, which shook lightly, and closed her eyes.

"Thunderbolt." She said as a bright blue bolt of electricity shot out of her paw directly at the logs. They caught pretty easily, and the rush of warmth was very much appreciated by both Pokémon.

"That's better, wouldn't you say?" Diana asked, giving a more pleasant smile than before. Kane unknowingly smiled back.

"How about you get yourself fixed up?" He suggested. Diana nodded, reaching into her main and pulling out some bandages and setting them to the side. She then pulled out a vile of blue liquid, probably crushed up Oran Berries, and rubbed the liquid on both arms. That was when Kane noticed some strange markings in sets of three on Diana's arms, going up to her shoulder and even on her chest and sides.

"Could you grab that pot for me, before it gets too hot?" Diana requested. Kane stopped staring st the marks on Diana's body and went to grab the pot. It was hardly even warm, and upon looking inside, Kane saw a gross brown mush inside.

"I made it incase... Kai or Kora ever came by while I was gone." The Zoroark explained. Kane looked at her, then back to the pot.

"How long were you gone? This... This doesn't even resemble food anymore."

Diana didn't respond. She went on to put more of the blue liquid on the rest of her body were the marks were.

"You wouldn't mind, clearing that out?" The fox asked. Kane sighed as he carried the pot out to the garden. He placed the pot on the ground and fired a short but strong Dark Pulse into it. Just strong enough to clear out the spoiled Berry mixture, but not enough to crack the pot. He paused for a minute before he picked back up the pot.

'I can't leave her here. Not by herself.' Kane decided to himself. 'She isn't like her boastful, obnoxious, ignorant son.'

When Kane walked back inside, Diana smiled and thanked him for helping her. The Outlander pointed to a jug of water and a small basket of berries near the garden's entrance. Kane brought both over, poured the water in the pot, and sat next to Diana with the basket between them. They waited a while for the water to boil, snacking on a berry or two.

"Kane, forgive me, but... are you always this caring?" Diana asked. Kane swallowed the Pinap Berry he was eating before answering.

"Not... really? Eva usually handles this kind of stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" Diana put a few berries into the water as she asked her question.

"Um... the, uh, caring stuff. It's better that she does it than me, she's way more caring than I am."

"Hmm, I see. Then, why did you stay?"

"I mean, I couldn't just leave you alone, can I? It ain't right, being so alone..." Kane replied right before he chomped down on a Lum Berry. Diana smiled and started to eat an Oran Berry.

"Thank you. It means a lot." Seeing Diana smile sweetly again, and hearing her thank him for being here, gave Kane a warm feeling in his chest. While the Berries boiled, Diana handed Kane the bandage wraps she put down.

"I'll be honest, I don't think I could wrap myself up. Could you... help me?" She asked. Kane gave Diana a genuine smile and nodded, taking the bandage. The thing he started on were her arms. He didn't ask any questions about what happened, either he didn't care or didn't want to, and got her left arm wrapped with no problems.

"You're quite good at this, Kane. Never would've known." Diana complimented the Scrafty. He shrugged as he started on the other arm.

"It's no big deal." Kane said. "Sometimes, Eva would practice on Zen and I, usually without asking us first. Looks like some of that practice rubbed off on me."

"Some of it? You're a natural!" Diana gave Kane another sweet smile. "Don't sell yourself short, dear."

"H-Hey, are ya trying to soften me up?" Kane asked, his face turning lightly red. Diana giggled a little and stretched out her right arm.

"Maybe. We might as well get comfortable, unless you wanna walk out in the cold again?" The two laughed for a moment before Kane started wrapping her arm up. It didn't take long for Kane to finish, like Diana said, he was a natural at using the bandage wraps. When Kane was about to start wrapping up wherever else had marks, he stopped and cleared his throat.

"Umm... Miss Diana, you have some, uh, marks on your shoulder and... and your torso." The lizard-like Pokémon stammered.

"I-I see... um..." the two sat awkwardly for a few moments, both realizing their predicament and neither knowing what exactly to do about it.

"I-I still can't... do it myself..." Diana added, which didn't make the situation better. All it did was add a brighter red to both of them.

"Is that s-so..?" Kane cleared his throat, looking to his right. They both sat there, again stuck in a rather, uncomfortable situation.

"Let's just... get this over with..." Diana suggested, turning to her left. Due to Diana's mane, and also because it would still be an awkward position, Kane could sit behind Diana to wrap her up like he could with any other Pokémon. Instead, he had to sit in front of her, and neither of them would at look the other directly. Kane started at her lower torso, and started wrapping slowly but snuggly upwards. Every time he had to get the bandage around Diana's back, Kane had to lean in close, which as you could tell, did NOT make this better for either of the two.

"A-Are you sure that-"

"Y-yes, I'm sure... just, don't think about it..."

Kane tried his damndest to not think about wrapping up Diana's chest, he really did, but every now and then Diana would twitch or flinch, and he had to make sure the bandage wasn't too tight. The minute it took for Kane to wrap Diana up was quite literally the definition of awkward and uncomfortable. Once Kane did finish, and then quickly wrapped Diana's shoulders and handed her back the bandage, both Pokémon let out an extremely relieved sigh, as if the heavy weight of that whole sequence had been lifted.

"That, was not something I thought I'd have to do today." Kane said.

"You're not the only one. Let's never tell anyone else about this. Deal?" Diana asked, extending an arm out to Kane.

"Deal. Especially not Kora." Kane replied, shaking Diana's palm. Without warning, Diana pulled Kane in and gave him as tight a hug as she could muster. It took a few seconds for Kane to realize he's been hugged, and he carefully hugged Diana back.

With that now behind them, Kane decided he would manage the pot while Diana sat. He wasn't as good with cooking as he was with wrapping Pokémon up, but luckily Kane had Diana to give him some pointers along the way. After ten or so minutes pass, Kane had successfully created a decent batch of Berry Juice. Not realizing how starved they both were, Diana and Kane drank about three cups each of the juice without saying anything to each other.

"That is exactly what I needed. I feel better already!" Diana exclaimed.

"Yeah, especially when it's cold as hell!" Kane added, getting a laugh from Diana.

"I can hear that, my friend!" Diana cheered as she finished her fourth cup. Kane noticed Diana's beautiful red shine come back to her mane, thinking that meant he did good.

/ _Almost an Hour Later/_

The two went on with corny and cheesy jokes for quite a while, drinking their fill of juice and enjoying each other's company. Perhaps there was something wrong with the Berries they used, or Kane didn't clean all of the old Berry Juice out properly, but the both started to get sleepy and fell asleep leaning on each other, the fire still blazing, and their spirits much higher than when they found each other.

Elsewhere on the island, Zen looked desperately for his friend, now joined by Eva. They ran into each other not long after Kane left. Eva was bored of watching her dad go through stacks of paper and went out to find someone to hang out with, and a few minutes after she left the Guildmaster's Quarters she was toppled over by Zen. The Bisharp, who normally was calm and collected, had a look of worry that gave Eva chills. All he said was, "Kane needs us," and the two set out to find him.

"He could be anywhere out here!" Eva exclaimed, following quickly behind Zen as they ran through the forest. She looked up at the sky, or as much as she could see from between the trees' foliage, and noticed the heavy clouds that had started rolling in. With the wind picking up and the temperature dropping, the Zangoose pieces together that the weather was about to get worse.

"If he's lost in the cold, it could... it wouldn't be good! We have to find him, fast!" Zen answered back. With no idea where Kane could have went they went to where he usually sleeps, close to the other houses. The Lizard didn't have a house to himself, instead choosing to sleep in a big enough tree. When it got towards Autumn and Winter, he'd _maybe_ ask to stay with Zen or Eva, but those times were few and far between. There was one tree, however, that was taller than most other trees, had large branches covered with moss, and was hollowed out in it's center so Kane could be inside whenever the weather was too much to be outside. The opening wasn't directly on the ground, you actually had to climb up a good portion of the trunk to find it.

The moment the pair arrived at Kane's Tree, they immediately jumped onto one of the branches and swung inside. The inside was well kept, the fire pit well managed with new firewood in the center, Kane's belongings lined the floor neatly, and a basket of Berries sat covered beside the fire pit. The Scrafty, wasn't here.

"Where else would he be?" Eva asked, panting lightly.

"Maybe at your house? We better get out of here before-" Zen was moving towards the opening when he was stopped by something small and cold on his hand. It was a snowflake, it sat there on Zen's hand, a sign that more was to come. Zen and Eva climbed out of the hollow tree and stood on one of it's branches. It was snowing just hard enough to obstruct their view about ten yards away from them, and it was slowly but surely getting harder.

Eva and Zen reached Eva's House within a few minutes, but were dissapointed when they saw no fire or any other sign of Kane being there. It was the same when they checked Zen's house, no fire, no Kane. The snow was starting to stick on the ground, and the two hoped that Kane was somewhere safe and warm. They started walking back to the guild, the cold and snow not much of a problem for either of them.

"We shouldn't worry so much, right? It'll take more than some snow to stop him." Eva said reassuringly.

"It's not him getting too cold I'm worried about. When I ran into him earlier, he looked throughly _pissed_. He practically knocked me over." Zen explained, looking into the sky. "When I tried to ask him what was wrong, he snapped at. Like, _snapped_ snapped." Zen frowned a little, shook the snow off his face and looked forward.

"Oh..." Eva replied. Having known Kane for so long, for him to suddenly snap at someone isn't as common as you'd think. Besides Kora and Minerva, Kane rarely has negative interactions with other Pokémon, mostly because he leaves the talking to Eva or Zen. Something definitely happened to the Scrafty, but until Kane shows up again, all Eva or Zen can do is wish for the best.

 _/Some Time Later, Sunset Beach/_

The wind started to pick up much sooner than Eva and Zen hoped. It was already a long walk to the Guild normally, but now with the low visibility, freezing wind, and soft snow starting to pile on top of the sand, the trek towards the Mountain to the North was going to be a whole lot more strenuous.

While they tried their hardest to move onward, Zen tripped over a piece of drift wood that wasn't there on their way down the beach earlier. There was another piece a few feet away from it, and a large piece not too far from that.

"Are these from a ship?" Eva asked, helping Zen off the ground. "We weren't gone that long, were we?"

"I don't... think so. Let's make sure there isn't anyone hurt." Zen told her, starting to move some of the wood. They both called out if anyone else was there while looking where there was debris for anyone unconscious. After a few minutes of no one answering, and no Pokémon lying out cold on the ground, the pair decided to lift the large debris before heading back on track for the mountain.

As they lifted the wood, they saw an imprint of a moderately sized Pokémon, perhaps larger than Eva, under it. And leading from it towards the Woods was a set of foot prints that both Pokémon swore weren't there before.

"Let's check this out." Zen said, turning to put down the large chunk of wood. When they place the wood back where they lifted it and turns towards where the footprints were, they were gone. Not only that, but the snow was a little higher than when the two first looked.

"...What..?" They both said. Neither Pokémon knew what had happened, or even if something _did_ happen. They both thought that maybe they were both seeing things, and that they'd better get back to the guild before it was too late as the cold was starting to get to them.

It took Zen and Eva a cold and tiresome thirty minutes of moving as fast as the snow would allow to get back to the Guild, shivering wither chattering teeth, an uncomfortable numbness in the bottom of their feet, and the regret of not finding Kane before the snow storm started. Waiting for the two was James, pacing back and forth and mutter to himself about something. His eyes lit up when he saw his daughter, shaking to the bone and covered with snow, and ran up to hug her.

"You guys were gone for almost an hour and a half! I was worried sick!" James exclaimed, deciding to bring in the also freezing Bisharp to the hug. "We need to get the both of you something warm to wear and drink, I'll take you to the Café right away!"

"Wh-Why not Miss T-T-Tia?" Eva asked.

"She decided to go on break until the rest of the guild showed up. And seeing how the weather is less than suitable for safe travel, I guess she'll be taking tomorrow off as well." James said, getting a groan from the other two.

"Uhhhhhgggg, seriously?" Eva complained. James nodded and started walking the two down towards the Café. The three walked down the same tunnel that led towards the Guildmaster's Quarters until they reached a three-way and went to the left, which led to another three-way. Several more twists, turns, and three-ways later, Eva and Zen accepted their fate of being cold and lost, following James in circles for the rest of eternity.

Neither of them thought they'd ever see the Café in this lifetime again.

/ _End Of Chapter/_


	15. Awakenings

_Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or any other referenced media in this story_

 _/The Sparring Area, Underwater, Soon after Zen Left/_

The lake was far more spacious under the surface than Kora first thought. It was oval-shaped, with most of it's size hidden on the rocky floor of the Sparring Area. There was probably twenty or so feet of pure rock at the Lake's edge. Under the rock parts were, you guessed it, more crystals. The crystals were letting out bubbles, so much so that there were pockets of air under the rock.

'Are these dissolving?' Kora thought as he swam towards one of the air pockets. He took in a deep breath once he reached, took in a large breath of air. Kora stayed there, hoping to get his mind off of Eva and Kane. After maybe a minute had passed, Kora felt something pulse around him. As he made his way to the surface, he felt something grab his leg and pull him towards the bottom.

'The hell?' He thought, looking to see what it was. A look of horror washed over Kora's face, seeing only a black void below. The thing that grabbed his leg was a claw made of void, it's nails digging into his leg.

"Found you..." A voice came from the darkness, causing a vicious whirlwind of emotions to fill Kora's very being. Anger, fear, sadness, and weakness coursed throught the Halfbreed's body. Kora's mind was racing so fast that he couldn't think, his body wouldn't move as he stared at the darkness that threatened to drown him within it.

'N-No..! I can't let it get me! Never again!' He thought as he tried to move, but his limbs wouldn't budge. The claw turned into three, each digging into his body and pulling the Zoroark down even faster. Using as much willpower as he could muster, Kora scratched himself in the face, temporarily blinding him and giving his body the jump it needed to act.

Kora shook the claws off his body, swimming upwards as fast as he could without looking back. When he was finally close to the surface, a bigger claw rose from the void and grabbed his mane. Without any hesitation, Kora cut his mane short and sped through the water.

/ _The Sparring Area/_

Jay and Lucas were sparing with each other as Nina sat to the side as a referee. She was, however, more focused on the Black Flower Kora had given her, pondering about whether or not she should forgive the fox for ignoring her wishes, and ditching her and Lucas with a monstrous copy. She noticed the flower's glow start to brighten, then suddenly heard a loud splash from behind her. She turned after hearing whatever it was that came out of the water slam onto the ground. It was Kora, trying to hurry away from the water.

"Kora? What happened?" She asked aloud, hurrying over to the fox. Kora was coughing up water, unable to answer her at first. He was holding his eye and looked as if he was dragging his left leg, along with a terrified look upon his face.

"V-Void! *Cough* *Cough* D-Don't go! Near the w-water!" The fox managed to say. Jay and Lucas were already next to Nina and tried to calm the frantic fox, the things he tried to tell them not making any sense.

"What void? What happened?" Jay asked, holding Kora by his shoulders.

"Claws! D-Darkness! I-In the water! Stay away!" Kora tried to explain.

"Dude, you gotta calm down! You're not making _any_ sense!" Lucas told the fox, holding Kora by his shoulders. Nina grabbed hold of Kora's paw that covered his eye, revealing that it was perfectly fine.

"Take a deep breath Kora. We can't understand you unless you _calm down_." The Frogadier said softly. After taking in several deep breaths and coughing up a bit more water, Kora finally came back to his senses.

"I went under the water, like under the rocky edge of the lake, and went into one of those air pockets. After a little while, I started feeling strange and tried to come back up. That's when something started pulling me down and..." Kora looked at his leg, vacant of scratches. "There was someone or something digging into me, a-and I felt... I felt a whole lot of bad, just... bad."

"Well, your leg looks fine. No marks, no nothing." Lucas stated.

"Kora... how long would you say you were down there?" Jay asked, putting his hand on the Halfbreed's shoulder.

"I can't have been long. I went under when Kane left not too long ago." Nina, Lucas, and Jay looked at each other with puzzled expressions before looking back at Kora.

"Kane left like... almost an hour ago." Nina said. Kora's eyes widened and his breathing started to speed up.

"N-No, he didn't! I swear he fell into the Lake like, ten minutes ago! Hell, it probably wasn't even that long!" Kora exclaimed.

"She's right. Kane bumped into us when he was storming out, and Zen went to follow him. We've been sparring against each other since." Jay explained. Kora put his paw on his head and tried to calm his breathing.

"I need a minute... or maybe several..." Kora said, shakily standing to his feet. He walked over to a wall and sat down on it, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. For a brief moment, Kora felt that same feeling wash over him, the one he felt underwater, and opened his eyes. Standing in front of him was a figure cloaked in black, staring right back at him with bright red eyes.

"I never forgot..." The figure said, walking slowly towards Kora. The fox could feel his heart about to jump out of his chest, his breathing now short, sharp bursts, and that same paralyzing fear keeping him to a standstill.

"P-P-Please..." Kora's voice was shaky and strained, it took him a great deal of energy just to say that one word.

"No... No mercy..." The figure was standing right above Kora, slowly reaching it's inky black arm out towards the Zoroark's face.

"Only..." Kora's vision started to blur and he found it difficult to breath. He couldn't feel his legs, and when he looked down, they were already covered in darkness. Kora slowly looked back up at the figure, it now brandishing an animalistic grin full of sharp teeth, and it's eye's filled with murderous joy. It's claw was mere inches from Kora's body, and he could feel the heat being sucked from his body.

"P... Pl...ease..." Kora muttered, passing out almost instantly after.

/ _The Infirmary, Twenty Minutes Later/_

Kora slowly regained consciousness in the comfort of one of the Infirmary beds. He was facing the ceiling, his head was pounding, and there was some commotion going on in the room. He tried to sit up, but his arms were numb and he slipped, laying back down in the bed.

" _Uhhhhgggg..._ " He groaned, trying again to raise himself up. His sight was foggy, so he couldn't tell who was still in the room. Come to think of it, the sounds everyone was making was blending together and sounded like a loud mess, so he couldn't distinguish anyone from their voices either. Thankfully, when he sat up, everyone quieted down.

"What... happened..?" He asked, slightly swaying from side to side. He was still dazed from waking up, plus the headache he acquired felt a bit better when he swayed gently. Kora saw a blue, orange, green, and white blob moving in front of him and tried to see them better by squinting.

"Hey guy- _OOOMMMPPPHHH!!!_ " Kora exclaimed as he was tackled down by the white Pokémon. He was wondering why the white blob, who he thought was Tia, tackled him and hugged him so tightly around his chest.

"Dammit twerp! I knew ya was gonna wake up!" The white blob happily exclaimed. "Ya had these kids worried, but I knew better!" After a few seconds Kora realized just who was holding him so closely.

"M-Minerva..?" He asked, his eyes finally starting to see clearly. He looked down at the Meowth once he could see properly, and a giant smile grew on Kora's face. "Minerva!! You're awake!!!" He exclaimed, hugging his friend tightly. It felt like so long since Kora felt the tiny stature of his feline friend filled with life, and the comfort he felt in her embrace was enough to make him shed a few tears.

"What? Ya didn't think I'd be out cold forever, didja?" Minerva asked sarcastically. Having regained his senses, Kora recognized everyone else in the room as well. Jay and Lucas both had relieved smiles, while Nina looked on the verge of tears. Tia was delighted at seeing Minerva and Kora both awake and alive, and Jax, despite being exhausted, smiled and nodded at Kora.

"Atleast Kora didn't keep us waiting all day Miss Beauty Sleep." The Machamp joked.

"Whatever Muscle Head. Good things come to those who wait, and _I'm_ the best thing any of ya coulda got!" Minerva retorted.

"I've also heard good things come in small packages. Looks like you check of both boxes, Shortcake!" Jax countered, laughing at his own comeback. "Still, it's good to see you up and about, Minerva."

"Yeah, yeah, it's nice seein ya too big guy." Minerva said, shooting a grin at Jax. The Young Trio went up to Kora and helped him off the bed. Much like how his arms were numb, so were his legs.

"You passed out for a little while. Had us worried." Tia said. "When I checked on how you were feeling, most of what I felt was fear, but that alone shouldn't be able to knock you out."

"It's complicated... I think." Kora smiled nervously. "Actually... I wanted to talk to you about it."

"Oh? Well, what's on your mind?" Tia asked, floating up to Kora's eye level.

"I wanted to talk with you, privately." Kora insisted, the other Pokémon getting the idea and leaving. Jax was assisted by Lucas on the way out. He did stop Minerva from leaving, however. "You can stay, Minerva. You'd here about it sooner or later, but I want those other guys out of it."

Kora waited a little while before saying anything, just to make sure the others were far enough away. The fox took a deep breath and began speaking.

"I had a couple nightmares, but I wasn't sleeping. To say it was terrifying would be a vast understatement." Kora started to explain. "The first one was bad, I almost got dragged into an underwater void by some black Pokémon, but the second one..." Kora started to tense up, his legs shook a little and his head started to hurt again.

"Take it easy, Kora. You just woke up, there's no need to push yourself." Tia told him. Kora shook his head, regaining some control over himself.

"I don't think they were _just_ nightmares. I think... I think something bad is gonna happen." Kora said. "The thing that tried to get me, I'm almost positive it was a Pokémon, and I remember it saying that it 'found me' and 'no mercy.'"

Neither Tia nor Minerva knew what to think of this. Minerva knows that when Kora thinks something bad is going to happen, nine times out of ten he's right. Tia was skeptical, and had the strangest feeling that Kora's nightmare might be a warning of some kind.

"That is definitely... disturbing. I'm not sure if it's entirely worth stressing over, though." The Meowstic admitted.

"I dunno doc. I'm willin' to bet Kora's onto somethin'." Minerva stated. "It'd probably be best to warn the other guild members once they're back on the island."

"But what if he's wrong? We'd be getting everyone worked up for nothing."

"What's the problem in lettin' Pokémon know that somethin' _might_ be wrong? It's bettah to be safe than sorry."

While those two started going on about whether or not to take Kora's nightmare seriously, the fox in question was sitting in the bed, holding his head in his paws. His headache get a lot stronger for some reason, and he felt another chill run up and down his spine. Thankfully, instead of another nightmare, he just felt mild nausea.

"Dear Arceus, today turned south real fast." He muttered, laying back down on the bed. Tia and Minerva stopped their disagreement and decided to help Kora.

"Have you had anything to eat today, Kora? Maybe you're hallucinating due to hunger?" Tia asked.

"Other than those berries you gave me when I busted up my arm, no." Kora replied. "Come to think of it, I didn't have too much to each yesterday, and I don't know if I ate those days Minerva and Rio said I disappeared."

"Oh yeah! I _completely_ forgot about that!" Minerva exclaimed. "Don't worry Kora, I'll get ya somethin' good to eat!" The Normal-Type bolted out the Infirmary, not realizing that she barely remembers where anything in the Mountain is. Tia sighed as she began to inspect Kora closer. A faint reddish glow engulfed Tia, which she slowly surrounded Kora in. With this glow, she could see if there were any... godly interference within Kora while keeping him barely conscious.

'He was fine this morning, he even spared with those kids and was willing to chase Jax without protesting. Even when he broke his paw and wrist, he looked entirely normal.' Tia thought. 'From what I've heard about his parents, and how he's been almost directly in the center of those strange phenomena that happened recently, I seriously doubt he's _just_ fatigued and hungry.'

Physically, Kora was fine. Even his paw and wrist were back to normal. When Tia decided to check his aura, however, things started to get interesting. Knowing Kora's typing, Tia made sure to be extremely careful not to let his aura get out of control, as checking it requires her to pull some of it out. She's done this many times with many Pokémon over the years, including other Dark-Types. Despite all that, she was entirely unprepared for the overwhelming weight of Kora's aura. The moment she dragged enough out to inspect it, she fell to her knees under it's pressure.

' _GAH!!!_ Wh-What is this? This can't just be _one_ Pokémon's aura, can it?' She thought, struggling to stand. She saw black and purple mixing into a void that surrounded Kora and her, it felt solid and stung whenever she touched it. There was an odd movement in it aswell, like there was something there, but Tia couldn't tell if there actually was. Kora started moving as if he wanted to stand, but the weight of his own aura and the glow that Tia surrounded him with kept him down.

"M-Miss... Ti...a..." He said, straining to get the words out.

'There's definitely something wrong. Even with being half Outlander, there's no _way_ his aura should be like this.' Tia thought, using most of her strength to put Kora's aura back within him. She started breathing heavily and dispelled the red glow from around Kora. The fox sat back up and held his head.

"What was that?" He asked. "I couldn't move, a-and everything felt so heavy..."

"Don't worry, *pant* *pant* you're okay." Tia answered, sitting down next to her medicine cabinet. "Let's just wait for your friend to get you some food."

/ _The Café, Five Mintues Later/_

Minerva was lucky enough to reach the Café with little problem on the way there. It was similar to the Bakery tent, using the same type of decor and seating arrangements, but with a vastly larger area and softer rugs under each of the tables. Instead of the tables being able to seat four people, the smallest ones could seat six, and the largest ones seating ten. Above each of the tables was a crystal or a cluster large enough to illuminate the entire table, and the tables close to any walls were also lit by torches that burned a bright orange. The counter that showed off all their baked goods was on the far end of the Café, which was a good thirty feet across.

Much to her surprise, there were a few more Pokémon there than she expected. James, her uncle (although she never knew if they were actually related), Eva, and Zen sat at one of the smaller tables. At one of the larger tables sat Nate and Zeke, although instead of eating they seemed to just be enjoying each other's company. Despite there only being five Pokémon in the Café, it felt loud and lively, probably back Minerva was practically dead for almost a whole day. The feline waved hello to James and his company before walking over to Nate and Zeke.

"If it ain't bird brain and lizard breath. Surprised the both of ya ain't stuffin' ya mouths with pastries." Minerva said, sitting down across from the two.

"We already did, actually. How _little_ of me to not save some for the Sleeping Beauty." Nate replied.

"We'll do better to leave an offering for the pixie next time, right Nate?" Zeke added his own jab to Minerva. The three glared at each other then laughed a little bit.

"Alright, I get it, I'm tiny. How's the two of ya been since I've been out?" Minerva asked.

"Where do I begin? Well, we woke up freezing and thought we should hide out here until it passes. Little did we know that it would get _colder_ as the day went on, and now it's snowing!" Nate explained. "Those guys came back shivering and cold as ice!" The Feraligtr exclaimed, nodding towards Eva and Zen.

"Apparently, Kane got upset about something and ran out sometime before the storm hit, and seeing how he's not _here_ , you can probably guess he's out _there_." Zeke added. Minerva shrugged, not really caring about the Scrafty.

"He's a bit of a hardass, yeah, but I would hate for him to stay lost in this weather. Us reptiles don't fair too well in the cold, especially when you can't adjust your body heat on your own." Nate said. Again, Minerva couldn't care less.

"Whatever, not my problem what that jerk get's himself into. Speaking of problems, I need to get some food to Kora! He's not doing too hot, and Tia thinks it's because he hasn't eaten anything for a while." Minerva exclaimed, hopping out of her seat and walking towards the counter. Before she reached it, luckily, James tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey Minerva." The Floatzel said, holding out a carrying bag to her. "Heard you're in a rush for some food. We had some extra pie left over and thought you'd need this more than we did." Minerva looked over at Zen and Eva, both of which looked away when she saw them.

"Thanks J! And I guess... tell them I said thanks." Minerva said before running off. She nods at the table where Zen and Eva sat, both nodding back and smiling nervously. Right as Minerva left the Café, she heard then shout " _THAT'S DISGUSTING!!!_ " at the top of his lungs. Not at all bothered to check what was wrong, Minerva kept on her way to Kora.

 _/The Infirmary/_

When Minerva arrived, the three younger Pokémon and Jax had returned, Tia was asleep in her chair, and Kora looked pained. Perhaps his headache got worse when she left, Minerva thought. The feline swiftly opened up the bag and pulling out a slice of Pinap Berry pie. She didn't notice until after she handed the pie to Kora that there was a bite already taken out of it, and a couple spots that looked slightly darker, maybe damper, than they should.

"Um... actually Kora-" Before Minerva could stop Kora from eating the pie, he had already scarfed it down without a second thought.

"Wathup?" The fox said with his mouth full.

"It's nothin'... really." Minerva said, taking a step back. Kora shrugged and swallowed the pie, feeling much better than he did earlier.

"That was a pretty great pie! I wonder if they got any more?" Kora said with a smile on his face. "I got lost the last time I headed towards the Café. Could you bring me there, Minerva?"

"Yeah, yeah. Before that, what happened to the nurse? I don't remember her lookin' so worn out when I left." Minerva asked.

"I couldn't tell you, one minute I'm laying down with a splitting headache, the next minute I can barely move. When I was able to move again, Tia was out of breath and sat down in her chair." Kora explained. Their conversation was butted in to by Lucas and Nina.

"Hey, are you guys going to the Café? You _gotta_ take us with you!" Lucas said excitedly.

"Yeah! We've barely had anything to eat all day! Do you know how many times we've had to carry someone, or fight someone, or walk around the _entire mountain_?!" Nina added. Minerva rolled her eyes.

"Ya make it sound like ya can't handle a little excitement around here. Fine, I'll take ya, as long as neither of ya whine on the way there." The Meowth said, then pointing at Kora. "You too, twerp."

"If you wouldn't mind, could you bring back a few things for us? Tia's been worked to the home since we got here, it'd be nice for her to wake up to some pastries or somethin'." Jax requested. Jay nodded, following the group out as they went.

The five Pokémon chatted along the way, the younger three mostly asking questions about Minerva, and the older two answering as best as they wanted to. All was going well, Kora felt fine, Minerva was alright until Lucas made the poor decision of calling Minerva 'Mini' for short and was subsequently thrown into a wall, average everyday stuff.

/ _The Café, Again/_

After dislodging Lucas from said wall and continuing onwards, the five Pokémon reached the Café. Kora was surprised at the size and the decor of the area, not noticing the Pokémon in it until he bumped into James and knocked the Floatzel over.

"Oh! Sorry James." Kora said as he helped the Water-Type up. Right behind James was Zen and Eva, the latter of which held a pie with one section missing. "Hi... guys."

"Afternoon, Kora. We have a gift for you, figured one slice wouldn't be enough. _Right,_ Eva?" Zen nudged The Zangoose's shoulder, making her sheepishly hand over the pie. Eva was definitely acting strange, she wouldn't look directly at Kora when she handed the pastry over to him. In fact, she looked a little red.

"Are you feeling alright? You're not sick, are you?" Kora asked. Eva shook her head and tried to walk past the Zoroark, but was stopped by Zen.

"Now, now, what's the rush? Didn't you have something you wanted to _say_ to Kora?" Zen asked with a devilishly smug grin.

"Zen... I swear." Eva said under her breath, turning redder. "Y-You're enjoying this..." Zen took Eva and Kora over to a table, leaving Minerva, James, and the trio to themselves.

"Say, what's with the girl?" The Normal-Type asked. James frowned and sighed.

"I'll be honest, it's as embarrassing and disgusting to me as it is for her. Did you notice anything wrong with the slice we gave you?"

"Yeah, actually. Don't tell me..."

"Yep."

"And the same with the pie?"

"Uh huh."

"That's disgustin'."

"Right?" James and Minerva both looked over at Zen, Eva, and Kora, then looked at each other and pretended to gag. "While I'd normally love to see where this goes, I've got things to get done. You know where to find me."

Through that whole exchange, Jay, Nina, and Lucas understood next to nothing about what was going on, nor did the want to. It wasn't any of their business, so why bother? They sat at the table next to Kora and his company, one of which was sinking as far below the table as she possibly could while Kora happily ate his Pinap Berry Pie, and Zen was grinning and chuckling to himself. Minerva left to buy some treats, saying she was gonna get a couple pies and PokéPuffs.

"Man, I wish I got a free pie!" Lucas muttered to Nina and Lucas, the three of them huddling next to each other.

"What's the deal with Eva? I'm _pretty_ sure she'd rather spit in that pie rather than give it to him." Jay whispered.

"What was all that talk about not forgiving him, just to get him a freaking pie later? I've been thinking about what to do with him and even _SHE_ doesn't know what to do with him!" Nina quietly exclaimed.

"She didn't even _offer_ us a slice! And look! He finished the entire thing by himself!" Lucas said, frustrated and hungry, but mostly hungry.

"Are they even friends? They don't even act like they like each other!" Jay whispered confusedly.

"If she can forgive him, why can't I? I mean, everyone deserves a second chance, why _shouldn't_ I give him his?" Nina said, holding the flower Kora gave her. The three then noticed Minerva standing to the side, looking rather uncomfortable while holding several different pastries that towered above her.

"Ya know... the three of ya muttering in your own little worlds, ain't even the weirdest thing I've seen recently. What is weird is how much of it involves the twerp." Minerva admitted, placing down the seeets on the table. Lucas gladly accepted his treats and began stuffing himself, much to Jay dislike. Nina awkwards took a slice of one of the pies.

"So, uh... how much did you hear?" The Frogadier asked, hoping the Meowth across from her didn't hear everything.

"Just about everythin', actually. The bakers are friends of mine and let me have anythin' I wanted since I was out for so long, so I got back basically right after I left." Minerva said, making the blue frog turn slightly purple. "Don't worry, I don't think either of these guys noticed, and I wouldn't tell him your business like that."

"Thank you, Minerva. That means a lot."

"Don't thank me yet. I might be overthinkin' this, but if you're thinkin' the way I think ya are, you're in for an uphill battle." The Meowth pointed out. "Kora ain't, well... he isn't wired that kinda way." Nina cocked her head to the side as if to say she wasn't exactly getting what Minerva was talking about.

"I don't get it." She said.

"Forget I said anythin' then. I guess bein' asleep for so long lets my mind wander a lot." The feline admitted, eating some pie. For a moment, Minerva felt someone glaring at her, but she couldn't tell from where.

/ _Meanwhile, The Next Table Over/_

"We've been sitting here for like, ten minutes. If you got something to say, could you _maybe_ say it before my fur turns gray?" Kora asked the red puddle of embarassment named Eva. "And I don't know why _you're_ grinning so much, but I've only ever seen you pissed or somewhat upset and I'd rather keep it that way." The fox said to the sneering Bisharp.

"Don't worry about it, fox, you'll understand later. More importantly, Eva actually does have something to say, whenever she stops putting a _damper_ on this conversation." Zen answered, making Eva sink ever deeper under the table, which in turn made Zen snicker to the side.

"I'm definitely missing something... is it about me?"

"Maybe, perhaps, it's because she sees a little bit of herself within you."

"That literally doesn't make any sense."

"Come on, Eva, Kora won't bite you, atleast not directly."

"Zen, what the hell are you talking about?" Kora asked, realizing that Eva was now hiding under the table. "And what happened to Eva all of a sudden?"

"She's just finding it difficult to _share_ herself with you. Arceus know's why seeing how easy she did it earlier."

"I swear to God, Zen. You're jokes are about as funny as Eva is currently herself, not at all."

"Fine, I get it. No more _spitting_ jabs at Eva." Zen sighed and pulled the now bright red Zangoose from under the table and sat her down directly in front of Kora, snickering to himself as he did so. Much like earlier, Eva was silent and shaking.

"Eva, if you're just gonna waste my time-" Kora was cut off as he started to stand.

"N-No, I'm alRIGHT... honest!" Eva said suddenly with a higher pitch than normal, which caused her to quickly cover her mouth, and Zen to burst out in laughter that he failed to contain entirely. Trying not to anger Eva, Kora kept his mouth shut and swallowed any laughs that tried to surface. Eva cleared her throat and started to speak again.

"I wanted to say sorry for how hard I've been on you lately." Now that Eva was speaking her mind, the mood in the Café turned serious. "I know it's difficult for you, and that it has been for a while, and I know that me always yelling at you doesn-"

"Eva... don't take this the wrong way, but I don't want to hear your apology." Kora said coldly, taking Eva and Zen by surprise.

"What do you..."

"I _mean_ what I _said_." Kora stood up and turned towards the exit. "You've been telling me the same thing for years, and you're right. If anyone here needs to apologize, it's me, and you've already made it pretty clear that me saying sorry isn't enough. Thanks for the pie. It was delicious."

Kora left by himself, leaving Eva and Zen, as well as Minerva and the others. He waved goodby to Nate and Zeke and, went on his way. Eva stared at the exit to the Café, feeling that something had happened to Kora but she couldn't tell what. There was a feeling, a faint, almost invisible feeling, deep in her chest that seemed to be telling her that something was wrong.

"Zen, I'll be right back." Eva said, jumping out of her seat and walking quickly towards the exit.

"Where are you going?" Zen asked, about to stand up. Eva held up her paw to tell him to stop.

"Don't... don't follow me, please?" She asked before hurrying through the Café's exit. Zen shrugged, thinking it would be best to do as she says.

After seeing Kora leave, and Eva soon after him, Minerva told the young trio to take some treats to Tia for her. The Meowth then got up and started following the Zangoose without telling the three what she was doing.

 _/A few Minutes Later, The Main Area/_

Kora was about to head to the Infirmary, for no reason other than it being the most familiar to him, when he felt something pulse through the ground. He waited a moment before brushing it off, until another pulse came through, a bit stronger than the last. He realized the energy was coming from the vacant dorm area, where Rio was resting, and thought something bad was happening.

"Hang on buddy, I'm coming!" Kora exclaimed, jumping up to the tunnel leading to Rio. As soon as he got up to the tunnel, he heard Eva calling his name from behind him. He ignored her, figuring that Rio was probably in danger and was a higher priority.

Eva felt the need to keep following Kora, especially after she felt an odd wave of energy move through the ground. It took her two jumps to reach the same tunnel Kora went into, and she began running after the fox. Minerva, being a bit behind Eva, was just barely able to catch which tunnel the cat ferret entered.

It wasn't long before Minerva caught up to Kora and Eva, both of which stopped in front of the dorms that held Rio. They each could feel a great amount of energy radiating there, and they each were ready for whatever was waiting for them.

With Kora in the front, the three Pokémon carefully tread towards the room Rio resides in, listening for any noise that meant trouble. Kora slowly poked his head into the entryway, seeing nothing other than Rio glowing a bright blue.

The Outlander's eyes were wide open, but they stared into nothingness. Rio's pupils were gone, and his aura, albeit bright, was a darker shade than it normally would have been. The room felt humid and hot, and as the three approached Rio they realized that the heat was coming from the Lucario himself.

"Rio..?" Kora said softly, reaching his left arm out to touch the Outlander. Minerva and Eva watched as Kora grabbed hold of Rio's arm, and then a burst of energy erupted from the Outlander, pushing the two girls back and hurting Kora's arm.

"Are y'all alright? What happened?" Minerva asked, brushing dust off her shoulder. Eva nodded, helping herself up.

"I'm pretty sure Rio exploded." The Zangoose said, looking over to see Kora holding his arm, and Rio kneeling on the ground and breathing heavily.

"Kora? What's wrong with your arm? Did ya get hurt?" Minerva asked as she went over to the fox, helping him up. "And what's with you, Rio?"

". . ." Rio looked up at Minerva and Kora, his eyes now jade green instead of crimson read. The band that was on Rio's right arm was burned by his aura, now revealing a scar that looked similar to bite marks, and a flame design that went all the way up to his shoulder from his paw.

As the Outlander stood, the other Pokémon noticed that his body was more lean and toned than before, and his spikes seemed a bit smaller, too. It was faint, but that same energy that led Kora and the other two to Rio was still emanating from the Lucario.

"Where... am I? And why do my legs," Rio fell to a knee, "feel like jelly?"

"You've been sleeping for a bit, that's all." Kora said as he stood up and offered Rio his paw. The jackal accepted the fox's help, standing up with him. "Let's go get you some food, Rio."

"Did anything happen while I was out?" Rio asked, following behind Kora as they all left the dorms. "It feels like I've been gone for a long time."

"You didn't miss much, I'll fill you in when we get you some food."

Minerva and Eva walked behind Kora and Rio, neither really wanting to talk to the other, but were still curious about the other's reason for following Kora. They decided to speak if the other one did, which neither of them did. So the entire walk to the Infirmary was quiet and awkward other than Rio and Kora's chatter.

 _/Not too long Later, Near the Infirmary/_

When they were close to the Infirmary, Kora felt a strange chill run up his spine. He hoped that he wouldn't have another terrifying waking nightmare, and was relieved when there was no shadowy monster threatening to pull him into a void. The fox walked Rio into the Infirmary, followed by Eva and Minerva, and sat down on one of the beds.

"Thank Arceus." Kora said under his breath.

"When are we gonna eat? I think my stomach's waking up." Rio asked, sitting next to Kora.

"There are three kids bringin' some food down for Tia. There's more than enough for ya to eat, atleast there should be." Minerva replied.

With nothing better to do, Kora, Minerva, Rio, and even Eva started chatting away the time until god arrived for their hungry Outlander and overworked Nurse, who was still sound asleep.


End file.
